LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October ,  i8g4. 
Accessions  No.^S^.^.O.J..-      Class  No. . 


>%imj^ 


r*" 


,^-^^ 


^J^^()^ . 


THE 


MISCELLANEOUS  WRITINGS 


MTLES  P.  SQUIER,  D.  D. 


LATB  PKOPESSOB  OF  INTELLECTUAL  AND  MORAL  PHILOSOPHY, 
BELOIT  COLLEGE,  WISCONSIN. 


WITH    AN    AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 


EDITED    AND    SUPPLEMENTED 


BY  EEY.  JAMES  R.  BOYD. 


FROM  THE  PRESS  OP 

R.   L.    ADAMS   &   SON, 

GENEVA,  N.  y, 


t/rtyl 


"-^m'r 


STra^f 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 


A  few  days  only  before  the  venerable  subject  of  the  ensu- 
ing memoir  closed  so  peacefully  his  mortal  career,  I  was  sum- 
moned to  his  bedside  to  listen  to  his  request  that  the  papers 
now  contained  in  this  volume,  besides  those  on  the  Being  of 
God  and  on  Moral  Government,  which  will  apjDear  in  another 
volume,  should  come  under  my  editorial  charge,  and  be  pre- 
sented to  the  public  in  due  order  and  form. 

The  facts  detailed  in  the  autobiography,  concerning  the 
early  settlement  and  Evangelization  of  Western  New  York, 
cannot  fail  to  be  deeply  interesting  to  the  residents  of  that 
part  of  the  State ;  while  the  able  papers  upon  European 
topics,  the  result  of  thoughtful  observation  upon  men  and 
things  when  abroad,  will  command,  it  is  l^elieved,  both  care- 
ful and  remunerative  perusal. 

On  the  whole,  the  volume  seems  to  be  adapted  not  only  to 
preserve  the  memory  of  an  eminently  useful  servant  of  Christ, 
but  to  stimulate  to  activity  in  the  cause  of  Christian  educa- 
tion, and  also  to  awaken  profound  thought  upon  some  of  the 
more  difficult  problems  of  theological  and  philosophical 
study. 

The  Editor  feels  constrained  to  offer  an  apology  to  all 
those  who  have  written  the  kind  and  excellent  letters  of  sym- 
pathy, embraced  in  the  following  memoir,  for  taking  tbe  lib- 
erty of  exposing  said  letters,  or  extracts  from  them,  to  the 
public  eye,  since  they  were  written  with  no  expectation  of 
such  use  being  made  of  them.  He  w  ould  not  have  done  so, 
if  he  had  not  regarded  them  as  perfectly  worthy  of  the  place 
here  assigned  them,  and  of  the  writers.  They  also  seemed  to 
him  to  possess  the  greater  value,  as  free  expressions  of  honest 
sentiment,  from  the  fact  that  they  were  written  without  refer- 
ence to  future  publication. 

Geneva^  N.  T.  ^^^^2:-  J.  R.  B. 


^ 


CONTENTS. 


I?^KT    I. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   AND    SUPPLEMENT. 

Chapter  I.— Parentage  and  Early  Life. 

Chapter  II. — Missionary  Tour  in  Western  New  York. 

Chapter  III. — Pastorate  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Chapter  IV. — Relation  to  Auburn  Theological  Seminary. 

Chapter  V. — Relation  to  tlie  Western  Agency  of  tlie  American 

Home  Missionary  Society. 
Chapter  VI. — Relation  to  the  Geneva  Lyceum, 
Chapter  VII. — Connection  with  Beloit  College.      -^T I 
Chapter  VIII. — Visit  to  Europe. 
Chapter  IX. — Contributions  to  the  Press. 
Chapter  X. — Intellectual,  Social,  and  Religious  Character. 
Chapter  XI. — ^His  Last  Days. 


CONTENTS. 


P^^RT    II. 

MISCELLANEOUS   AVTIITINGS. 

I. 

TEN  LECTURES  SUGGESTED  BY  A  TISIT  IN  EUROPE. 

1.  Geneva  and  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  including  an  Address 

on  the  American  Question. 

2.  The  American  Meeting  of  the  Alliance. 

3.  Italy — the  Source  of  its  Kegeneration. 

4.  France  and  its  Emperor. 

5.  England  and  its  Queen. 

6.  Dr.  Pusey  at  Oxford. 

7.  The  Attitude  of  Christian  Europe  on  the  American  Question. 

8.  The  Future  of  Europe. 

9.  Europe  as  Contrasted  with  America. 
10.  Prognosis  of  the  Future  of  Empires. 

II. 

THREE  LECTLTIES  AT  BELOIT  COLLEGE. 

I.     Highest  Usefulness. 
II.     Self-Control. 
III.    Social  Responsibility. 

III. 

TWO  DISCOLTISES. 

I.  The  Way  of  Salvation. 

II.  God  is  Light. 

IV. 

ESSAYS  AND  REVIEWS — THEOLOGICAL  AND  PHILOSOPHICAL. 

I.  •  The  Mystery  ;  or,  Evil  and  God.     In  three  numbers. 

II.  Review  of  Dr.  Bushnell  on  Nature  and  the  Supernatural. 

III.  Review  of  Dr.  Orville  Dewey's  Lowell  Lectures. 

IV.  Free-Will :  A  Criticism  on  Dr.  Whedon,  and  on  Dr.  H.  B. 

Smith. 
V.     Doctrine  of  the  Spirit's  Influence. 


?:^- 


tiin^^ 


PART   I. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   AND    SUPPLEMENT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

In  the  summer  of  1846,  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
drew  up  a  brief  sketch  of  some  of  the  more  important 
acts  and  events  of  his  life,  in  the  hope  that  they  might 
be  interesting  to  the  circle  of  his  family  friends  who 
should  sui*vive  him ;  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  recall- 
ing to  his  own  mind  the  ways  of  Divine  mercy  in  which 
he  had  been  conducted,  that  he  might  confide  the  more 
strongly  in  the  providence  and  gi'ace  of  God  during  the 
remainder  of  his  earthly  pilgrimage. 

In  April,  1863,  a  lecture  was  prepared  and  read  by 
him  before  the  Geneva  Literary  and  Scientific  Associa- 
tion, entitled,  "  Reminiscences  in  the  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory of  the  State  of  New  York,"  relating  chiefly  to  his 
own  experience  and  observations. 

As  these  two  documents,  together  with  a  brief  journal 
of  a  Tour  in  Europe,  furnish  matter  for  a  large  portion 
of  the  following  memoir,  it  will  have  the  freshness  and 
chami  of  an  autobiogi'aphy.     So  far  as  may  be  expedient, 


8  PARENTAGE   AND   EAKLY   LIFE. 

the  lamented  and  venerated  subject  of  it,  shall  address 
us  in  his  own  language,  and  in  the  first  person.  In  re- 
spect to  his  parentage  and  early  life,  he  thus  writes : — 

I.    PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  LIFE.  • 

"I  was  born,  in  Cornwall,  Vermont,  May  4th,  1792  ; 
being  the  second  son  and  child  of  Wait  and  Hannah 
Squier.  My  parents  were  of  English  descent,  and  na- 
tives of  Berkshire  Co.,  Mass.  My  father  was  the  thu-d 
gon  of  Andrew  Squier,  of  Lanesboro,  Mass.,  through 
whom  the  family  is  traced  to  Waterbury,  and  that  re- 
gion in  Connecticut.  My  mother's  maiden  name  was 
Hannah  Powell :  she  was  the  fourth  daughter  of  Miles 
Powell,  whose  name  I  inherit.  He  was  a  man  of  some 
distinction  in  his  day,  and  the  Colonel  of  a  regiment  of 
Berkshire  Militia,  in  the  well-known  Bennington  battle 
in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  :  that  beginning  of  victo- 
ries in  behalf  of  the  American  standard,  which  had  so 
much  influence  on  the  great  issue  pending,  and  on  the 
liberties  of  the  world." 

"  The  first  year  of  my  life  was  one  of  feebleness,  but 
through  parental  assiduity  I  attained  to  a  good  consti- 
tution and  a  vigorous  childhood.  I  was  early  sent  to  the 
district  school,  and  at  the  age  of  five  years  could  read 
quite  well  in  easy  lessons.  I  had  attained  to  the  ordina- 
ry wisdom  of  the  common  school  of  that  day,  at  the  age 
of  fourteen  yeai*s,  and  was,  in  May,  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, removed  to  the  Academy  at  Middlebuiy,  Vermont ; 
and  one  yeai*  from  the  next  August,  entered  the  College 
at  that  place,  as  a  member  of  the  Freshman  Class,  hav- 
ing obtained  the  premium  for  proficiency  in  Greek  lit- 
erature in  the  Academy.    I  came  to  Middlebmy  to  enter 


PREPARATION   FOR   THE    GOSPEL   MINISTRY.  9 

the  Academy,  as  I  now  recollect,  on  the  day  of  the  great 
eclipse  of  the  sun,  180G,  and  entered  College  in  August, 
1807.  My  premium  was  'Watts  on  the  Mind,'  and  to 
that  fact  and  work  do  I  trace  a  predilection  for  the  class 
of  studies  on  which  it  treats.  Much  of  my  junior  year 
in  college  I  traveled,  on  account  of  ill  health,  induced, 
perhaps,  by  too  great  application  to  study,  I  took  the 
philosophical  oration  as  my  appointment  both  at  the 
senior  exhibition  and  on  graduating  in  August,  1811." 

"  My  Christian  hope  dates  from  the  autumn  of  junior 
year,  in  1809,  in  a  period  of  great  spiritual  refreshing, 
both  in  the  town  and  college.  My  first  evidences  of  a 
right  state  of  heart  were  in  a  sweet  submission  to  anH 
acquiescence  in  the  will  of  God  as  a  righteous  sovereign, 
and  an  overcoming  sense  of  the  ineffable  glory  and  ex- 
cellency of  His  perfections,  and  the  righteousness  of 
His  ways,  and  the  suitableness  of  His  expedients  of 
mercy  by  the  Gospel." 

II.    PREPARATION  FOR  THE  GOSPEL  MINISTRY. 

"I  entered  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover, 
Mass.,  in  the  autumn  of  1811,  and  pursued  a  full  three 
years'  course  of  study  for  the  Gospel  ininistiy.  I  was 
present  at  the  ordination  of  the  first  missionaries  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
(A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,)  at  Salem,  Mass.,  viz.:  Newell,  Hall, 
Judson,  Nott,  and  Rice  :  a  very  impressive  and  instruc- 
tive day.  Three  of  them  long  since  failed  from  the  liv- 
ing on  earth,  and  the  other  two  with  but  '  feeble  hold  on 
life.'  "* 

"  My  commission  to  preach  the  Gospel,  dates  from  the 

*  Judson  died  1850. 


10  ENTRANCE   UPON   THE    GOSPEL   MINISTRY. 

spring  of  1814.  My  full  term  at  Andover  extended  to 
the  autumn  of  that  year,  and  closed  in  the  Anniver- 
sary of  that  year  with  two  dissertations, — one  in  the  de- 
partment of  pulpit  eloquence  on  '■  Affectation  in  Preach- 
ers,' and  the  other  in  the  department  of  Christian  The- 
ology. 

"  On  leaving  the  Seminary  and  its  hallowed  and  en- 
deared associations,  I  fulfilled  an  engagement  previously 
made,  of  eight  weeks'  supply  of  the  j)ulf)it  of  the  Con- 
gregational Society  of  Oxford,  in  Worcester  Co.,  Mass.; 
it  was  a  pleasant,  improving,  profitable  period.  I  then 
returned  to  my  friends  in  Vermont,  and  found  the  con- 
gregation of  the  City  of  Vergennes,  five  miles  from  my 
father's  house,  waiting  to  engage  me.  I  tarried  with 
that  affectionate  and  agi'eeable  people,  until  the  spring 
of  1815,  when  my  thoughts  were  turned  westward,  by 
an  application  from  the  Directors  of  the  '  Young  Peo- 
ples' Missionary  Society  of  Western  Neiv  Yorh,^  endorsed 
by  Dr.  Porter,  of  Andover,  and  his  urgent  request,  that, 
if  other  engagements  would  at  all  admit  of  it,  I  would 
not  fail  to  go.  It  was  for  an  exploring  mission,  through 
the  more  unsettled  portions  of  Western  New  York,  and 
the  forming  of  auxiliaries  in  the  principal  villages  and 
towns,  for  strengthening  the  Society  then  new,  and 
whose  first  missionary  I  was." 


! 


MISSIONARY   TOUR   IN   WESTERN   NEW   YORK.  11 


CHAPTER  II. 

MISSIONARY  TOrR  IN  WESTERN  NEW  YORK. 

"  The  settlement  commenced  dming  the  ninth  decade 
of  the  last  centmy.  A  few  families  only  resided  west  of 
Utica  in  the  State,  in  1788.  In  1790,  Ontario  county, 
which  then  embraced  all  west  of  Cayuga  Lake,  num- 
bered about  one  thousand  inhabitants.  In  ten  years 
they  had  become  100,000,  and  in  1810,  250,000.  The 
settlements,  being  chiefly  from  New  England  and  East- 
ern New  York,  brought  with  them  the  religious  associa- 
tions to  which  they  had  been  accustomed.  In  1805  the 
Presbytery  of  Geneva  was  formed,  embracing  nearly  all 
the  region  under  review,  being  cut  off  from  that  of 
Oneida,  by  a  line  running  south  from  the  lake  of  that 
name.  In  1810  the  Synod  of  Albany  divided  this  Pres- 
bytery into  three,  instituting  those  of  Onondaga  and 
Cayuga,  and  fixing  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  Geneva 
Presbytery  at  Cayuga  Lake,  and  extending  thence  as 
before,  to  the  western  boundary  of  the  State,  and  from 
Pennsylvania  to  Lake  Ontario.  By  this  body  was  I  or- 
dained to  the  Gospel  ministry,  and  installed  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  Congregation  at  Buffalo,  May  3d,  1816, 
and  I  am  recorded  on  its  minutes,  for  that  period,  and 
am  now  the  earliest  named  there,  among  the  living 
members  of  that  body. 

I  first  met  the  Board  of  Directors  in  Oneida  county. 


12  MISSIONARY   TOUR   IX   AVESTERN   NEAV    YORK. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Snowden  was  chairman.  He  had 
been  pastor  at  New  Hartford,  and  afterward  j^reached  at 
Sackett's  Harbor,  and  died  at  Brown ville  in  the  same 
county.  Rev..H.  Dwight,  then  pastor  at  Utica,  Rev. 
Noah  Coe,  pastor  at  New  Hartford,  and  Rev.  John 
Frost,  pastor  at  Whitesboro,  and  others,  were  members 
of  the  Board.  These  were  no  common  men  ;  well  cal- 
culated, in  the  instep  of  the  countiy,  to  take  charge  of 
the  cause  of  missions,  and  the  work  of  evangelization  in 
the  regions  beyond.  Rev.  Moses  Gillett,  also,  was  pastor 
at  Rome;  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Azel  Backus  was  Presi- 
dent of  Hamilton  College,  then  bringing  forward  its 
first  class  for  graduation,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Asahel  Norton, 
was  pastor  of  the  Village  Church  in  Clinton.  . '  Par  no- 
bile  fratrum^ — a  noble  band  of  brothers,  worthy  of  the 
post  they  held  in  the  forefront  of  all  the  west,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  days,  and  of  a  place  in  history  for  all  time 
afterward.  Dr.  Backus  was  a  man  quite  ^ sui- generis' 
He  could  laugh  or  cry,  tell  stories  or  preach  sermons, — 
abounding  in  wit  and  humor  ;  he  was  sage,  saintly,  and 
Christ-like.  He  had  a  warm  heart  and  a  noble  soul. 
As  I  called  at  his  gate,  on  my  way,  he  said,  '  I  am  glad 
you  are  going,  my  young  friend,  but  you  will  see  that 
that  will  make  yom*  heart  ache  before  you  get  back ;  the 
Lord  deliver  you  from  the  paw  of  the  bear,  and  the  teeth 
of  the  lion,  and  bring  you  back  in  safety  :'  and  with  his 
blessing  I  turned  toward  the  wilderness.  Passing 
through  Rome,  to  Camden,  where  the  godly  and  now 
sainted  Henry  Smith  was  afterwards  the  pastor,  I 
preached  my  first  missionary  sermon  there,  and  on  the 
next  Sabbath  at  Williamstown,  taking  the  floor  of  a 


MISSIONARY   TOUR   IN   WESTERN   NEW   YORK.  13 

newly  raised  barn  for  our  meeting  place,  and  its  over- 
stretching beams  for  a  sounding  board.  I  was  hospita- 
bly entertained  in  a  recently  built  log-house,  where  a 
blanket  was  the  only  partition  between  my  own  and  thie 
lodging  apartment  of  the  family.  Thence  I  went  by 
marked  trees  and  a  bridle  path  twelve  miles  to  Mexico, 
and  on  to  Oswego,  crossing  the  river  on  a  scow  or  raft, 
and  preaching  on  the  Sabbath,  in  the  second  loft  of  a 
store,  as  the  most  eligible  locality  which  that  incipient 
city,  now  of  goodly  churches  and  congi-egations  of  thu'ty 
thousand  people,  could  furnish.  Thence  the  route  of 
the  lone  missionary  lay  by  marked  trees  again,  westward, 
to  Adam's  Basin,  on  the  easterly  entrance  of  Sodus  Bay, 
where  now  is  the  fine  flourishing  town  and  farming  re- 
gion of  Wolcott ;  and  thence  by  the  Block  House,  now 
Clyde,  through  Junius  to  Geneva,  then  a  village  of  one 
thousand  inhabitants.  This  seemed  like  emerging  into 
daylight.  Society  had  begun  here.  The  church  had 
taken  form,  and  the  good  Henry  Axtell  was  pastor,  and 
I  hitched  my  missionaiy  horse  at  his  gate  and  waited  on 
him  for  further  instmctions.  Mr.  A.,  afterward  Dr.  A., 
by  a  well-deserved  honor  from  Middlebury  College,  was 
a  Director  of  the  Society  under  whose  patronage  I  la- 
bored, and  I  had  letters  to  him  in  this  behalf.  He  was 
the  first  minister  of  the  Gospel  I  had  seen,  since  leaving 
Rome,  and  he  knew  well  how  to  enter  into  sympathy 
with  the  missionary  life.  He  was  installed  pastor  here 
in  1812,  and  continued  seventeen  years  in  the  laborious 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  calling  till  in  1829,  he  fell 
asleep  in  Jesus,  aged  45.  Thence,  after  much  consola- 
tion  with   the   good  people   of  Geneva,  my  route  lay 


14  MISSIONARY   TOUR   IN    WESTERN    NEW   YORK. 

through  Canandaigua,  to  Rochester,  preaching  as  gi'oups 
of  people  could  be  gathered. 

"Rochester  then  contained  only  a  few  dwellings,  a 
mill,  and  a  school  house  in  which  I  preached,  lodging  at 
the  house  of  a  Mr.  Elisha  Ely,  brother  of  Henry  Ely  of 
that  place.  Thence  I  took  the  Ridge  Road  to  Lewiston, 
and  there  spent  next  Sabbath :  visited  the  Falls  on  the 
Canada  side,  and  stood  alone  a  stranger  in  a  strange 
land,  under  Table  Rock,  and  under  the  sku't  of  the  over- 
flowing water,  while  the  heavens  gathered  blackness,  and 
heavy  peals  of  thunder  were  just  audible,  amidst  the 
continual  roar  around  me ;  thence  to  Bufialo,  crossing 
over  at  Black  Rock,  to  the  house  of  one  who  became  a 
fast  Chiistian  friend  dm*ing  all  my  residence  on  the 
frontier — Deacon  Nathaniel  Sill,  than  whom,  very  few 
whom  I  have  met  have  more  excellencies  of  character, 
or  in  whose  families  I  have  enjoyed  more  of  the  solaces 
of  christian  society  and  friendship. 

"  At  Canandaigua  an  incident  of  some  interest  oc- 
curred. My  horse  strayed  from  his  enclosure,  and  I  was 
detained  till  after  the  Sabbath.  The  Rev.  ]Mr.  Ton-ey,  a 
Unitarian,  was  then  the  minister  at  that  place.  He  had 
been  ordained  in  Boston,  and  there  somewhat  anom- 
alously installed  over  the  congi*egation  of  Canandaigua. 
He  was  a  conscientious  man,  and  then  very  ill  at  ease, 
with  the  sentiments  which  he  had  entertained.  He  was 
indeed  all  afloat  as  to  doctrinal  views,  and  quite  appealed 
to  me  for  relief  and  assurance.  He  said,  '  Every  time 
I  visit  my  friends  at  the  east,  I  find  them  farther  and 
farther  away  from  the  peculiar  teachings  of  the  Gospel, 
and  less  and  less  depending  for  light  upon  it.     I  do  not 


MISSIONARY   TOUR   IN   WESTERN   NEW   YORK.  15 

know  but  it  is  Calvinism  or  Deism  after  all.  I  can 
not  preach  Unitarianism  to  my  people  any  longer, 
and  I  don't  feel  fit  to  preach  anything  just  at  present, 
and,'  he  added,  '  you  must  stay  with  me,  and  preach  for 
me  on  the  Sabbath.'  This  I  did,  both  morning  and 
afternoon,  and  we  had  frequent  and  long  conversations 
on  the  doctrines  of  gi'ace,  and  the  subject  matter  of 
Revelation,  and  on  the  next  Sabbath  after,  he  advised 
his  congregation  of  his  doctrinal  difficulties,  and  that  he 
could  preach  for  them  as  a  Unitarian  minister  no  more. 
He,  from  that  time,  disclaimed  what  was  technically 
called  '  liberal  Christianity,'  and  lived  afterward  and  died 
in  the  orthodox  faith." 


16  PASTORATE   IN   BUFFALO. 


CHAPTER  ni. 

PASTORATE  IN  BUFFALO,  N.  Y. 

"  At  Buffalo,  I  was  directed  to  the  house  of  Mi\  Amos 
Callender,  another  elder  of  the  church,  whose  unmter-' 
rupted  counsel  and  friendship  it  was  my  privilege  to  en- 
joy. I  spent  two  weeks  in  B.  preaching  in  the  unfin- 
ished saloon  of  the  largest  tavern  then  in  the  place,  and 
since  known  as  the  Mansion  House.  On  my  retrnm 
east  in  fulfillment  of  my  mission,  a  Aviitten  invitation 
was  handed  me,  signed  by  a  large  number  of  the  prin- 
cipal citizens  of  Buffalo,  requesting  my  return  with  a 
view  to  settle  among  them,  as  their  pastor,  and  guaran- 
teeing a  competent  salary  if  I  should.  I  promised  to 
take  it  into  consideration  and  inform  them.  I  returned 
through  the  older  settlements,  and  organized  auxiliaries 
to  the  Society  in  whose  employ  I  was. 

"This  church  was  constituted  on  the  2d  of  Feb., 
1812,  (consisting  of  twenty-seven  members,)  by  the 
Rev.  Thaddeus  Osgood,  the  man  '  whose  praise  is  in  the 
Gospel  throughout  all  the  churches.'  For  a  few  months 
after  this  company  of  disciples  and  the  families  associat- 
ed with  them,  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  a  church  state, 
and  the  occasional  labors  of  the  Missionaries  of  the  Cross. 
But  in  the  following  September  they  were  scattered 
abroad  by  reason  of  the  desolations  of  the  late  wai*  on 
this  frontier;  and  did  not  meet  again  until  July  15th, 


PASTORATE   IN   BUFFALO.  17 

1815.  This  was  but  a  few  weeks  previous  to  my  first 
visit  to  this  place,  which  was  in  August  of  that  year." 

"  I  returned  to  Clinton  in  season  for  the  commence- 
ment in  Hamilton  College,  and  the  first,  if  I  remember 
rightly,  of  that  now  honored  and  veteran  seat  of  learn- 
ing ;  and  here  I  must  relate  another  characteristic  anec- 
dote of  its  good-hearted  President.  I  called  on  him 
again  with  some  account  of  travels,  and  personal  history, 
and  showed  him  my  invitation  to  BufiTalo,  and  he  said, 
'  Yes,  yes,  you  must  go  to  Bufialo  !'  I  remarked  lha!i  I 
thought  of  accepting  a  Tutorship  at  Middlebury  College 
for  a  year  and  then  going.  '  No,  that  won't  do/  he  re- 
plied. '  I'd  rather  never  have  a  minister,  than  to  wait  a 
year  for  him.  You  must  go  home  and  see  your  friends 
awhile,  and  return  this  fall,  and  if  you  won't,  I'll  send 
right  off  to  Andover  and  get  a  better  man  for  them  and 
cut  you  out,  and  you  never  shall  go.' 

"  My  report,  on  surrendering  my  commission,  advocat- 
ed the  location  of  missionaries,  and  assisting  congregations 
in  their  support  as  a  more  economical  and  successful 
method  of  missions,  than  that  of  itinerary  labors,  till 
then  pursued.  The  report  was  published  by  the  Board, 
and  quite  extensively  circulated  in  the  periodical  press 
of  that  time,  and  I  am  happy  to  observe  that  the  work 
of  '  Home  Missions'  has  since  taken  on  the  type  very 
much,  in  our  country,  which  was  then  suggested. 

"  My  return  to  friends  in  New  Haven,  V  t.,  lay  by  the 
home  of  my  venerated  friend,  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Bush- 
nell,  of  Cornwall,  of  that  State,  and  he,  as  a  veteran 
missionary  himself,  and  a  pioneer  in  the  work  in  West- 
ern New  York,  as  far  as  Canandaigua  and  the  Bloom- 
2 


18  PASTORATE   IN   BUFFALO. 

fields,  must  know  all  things  concerning  me,  and  how  the 
cause  prospered.  He,  too,  was  decided  in  the  matter  of 
my  retm*n  to  Buffalo.  *  Oh,  yes,  you  must  go  there.  If 
you  were  my  boy,  I  would  rather  have  you  settle  in 
Buffalo  than  Boston.  You  will  be  more  of  a  man  and 
do  more  good ;  go  home  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and 
then  pack  up  yom*  case  of  books,  and  hitch  to  that  mis- 
sionary horse,  and  journey  on  thirty-five  miles  a  day, 
and  preach  the  everlasting  Gospel  to  them.'  I  did  so, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1816,  the  members  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Geneva,  after  a  horse  ride  of  more  than  one  hundred 
miles  over  logs,  and  through  mud,  on  the  3d  of  May  in- 
stituted my  pastoral  relation  to  that  people. 

"  This  was  a  little  over  two  years  after  the  burning  of 
Buffalo,  in  the  war  with  England  of  1812,  and  a  busier 
place  was  never  seen.  But  the  people  had  got  tired  of 
living  without  the  Gospel,  and  craved  a  return  to  the 
habits  and  behests  of  Christian  civilization.  The  des- 
olations of  the  war  had  pleaded  the  cause  of  truth,  and 
they  sought  repose  from  its  scenes  and  its  wickedness  in 
the  accents  of  mercy  and  peace  by  the  Gospel.  They 
were  then  a  peculiarly  malleable  people.  They  were 
willing  to  be  taught  and  directed,  and  were  Avilling  to 
regard  the  Sabbath,  the  Sanctuary,  and  the  institutions 
and  claims  of  religion,  as  their  grand  antidote  from  the 
evils  which  they  suffered  and  feared.  Thus  they  were 
easily  wrought  into  the  habits  of  a  Christian  community, 
and  the  Word  of  God  in  a  good  degree  had  free  course 
among  them  and  was  magnified." 

From  the  half-century  discourse  delivered  Feb.  2d, 
1862,  by  Rev.  Walter  Clarke,  D.  D.,  now  pastor  of  the 


PASTORATE   IN   BUFFALO.  19 

same  church  in  the  city  of  Buffalo,  we  learn  that  the  in- 
teresting ceremony  of  inducting  into  oflBce  this  first 
pastor  of  the  first  church  of  the  then  infant  town,  took 
place,  for  want  of  better  accommodations,  in  a  new 
barn  which  had  just  been  raised  and  covered  but  never 
used,  and  tlie  kind  owner  made  it  a  sanctuary  before  it 
could  become  a  hostelry.  "Extempore  benches  were 
made,  a  little  platform  built,  and  Ransom's  barn  was  for 
a  time  a  temple  which  neither  God  nor  His  people  de- 
spised." The  ordination  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev^ 
Dr.  Axtell,  of  Geneva.  Dr.  Clarke  observes  that  Mr. 
Squier,  "  having  received  charge  of  the  congregation, 
devoted  himself  at  once  to  his  proper  work,  preached 
sermons,  and  delivered  addresses,  and  published  articles 
exhorting  the  people  to  all  due  endeavors  to  enforce  or- 
der, and  set  a  curb  on  vice,  and  erect  a  virtuous,  loyal, 
and  happy  community.  The  people  valued  his  labors 
and  were  prompt  to  second  them.  They  formed  a  so- 
ciety to  promote  public  morals,  engaged  to  abstain  them- 
selves, and  so  far  as  they  had  influence  or  power,  to 
hinder  others  from  Sabbath  breaking  and  the  vices  to 
which  it  so  commonly  leads.  The  next  Sabbath  all  the 
stores  in  the  village  were  closed.  Eight  persons  joined 
the  church  in  1816  ;  the  next  year  thirty-seven,  and  the 
next  thiity-four  were  added ;  of  these  were  two  who  en 
tered  and  honored  the  Chiistian  ministry.  The  next 
year  twenty-two  persons  joined  the  church,  one  of  whom 
was  Henry  Hoisington,  afterward  the  well-known 
missionary,  a  diligent  minister  and  thorough  scholar, 
whose  memoiy  and  works  remain." 

During  his  pastorate  in  Buffalo,  of  less  than  eight 


20  PASTORATE   IX   BUFFALO. 

years,  Mr.  Squier  received  into  cliurcli  fellowship  one 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  persons. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  A.  T.  Chester  in  his  poem,  read  at  the 
semi-centennial  celebration  of  the  First  Chui'ch,  in  ad- 
dressing this  mother  church,  thus  happily  introduces  the 
subject  of  this  memoir  : — 

"  The  past  is  all  thine  own.     Look  back  and  see 
How  graciously  thy  God  hath  dealt  with  thee. 
Pastors  have  served  thee,  faithful,  pure  of  blame. 
Worthy  to  wear  that  consecrated  name. 
Squier,  of  keen  mind,  and  philosophic  cast. 
Thy  patient  shepherd  in  the  days  long  past. 
Now  solves  the  problem,  '  Where  does  ill  begin  ?' 
Gives  God  the  glory  and  to  Man  the  sin." 

"  We  had  (wiites  Dr.  Squier)  a  way  of  doing  things 
in  Buffalo  that  was  somewhat  peculiar.  "We,  of  all 
names  as  Christians,  resolved  to  hold  together  until  we 
got  able  to  separate.  We  did  not  expect  our  minister 
to  dwell  much  in  advocacy  of  sects,  but  to  give  himself 
to  the  great,  essential  verities  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
people  worked  together  with  him  for  the  advancement 
of  the  common  cause.  The  Episcopalians  were  the 
first  to  hive  out.  Bishop  Hobart  thought  it  was  time, 
in  about  1818,  or  19,  to  set  up  then-  banners,  and  came 
for  that  pm-pose.  I  gave  him  my  pulpit  for  the  firet 
Sabbath,  and  we  all  heard  him  to  edification :  and  he 
and  his  people  aftenvards  met  on  their  own  appoint- 
ments. The  Baptists  were  next  in  time,  and  we  seiwed 
them  likewise,  dismissing  a  member  or  two,  from  our 
communion,  as  being  more  at  home  with  them :  and 
after  that  the  Methodists ;  with  but  this  difference,  that 


MARRIAGE.  21 

we  discharged  a  member  of  our  session  for  their  assist- 
ance, and  because  we  thought  he  would  make  a  better 
Methodist  than  Presbyterian.  These  movements  were 
all  made  in  concert  and  with  mutual  understanding  in 
accommodation  to  the  predilections  of  worshipers,  and 
thus  laid  the  foundation  of  a  union  religious  service, 
which  was  weekly  held  in  the  different  congregations, 
alternately  or  in  rotation.  This  was  for  a  long  time  con- 
tinued, and  contributed  largely  to  that  union  of  spirit, 
and  consent  of  testimony,  which  characterized  the  early 
rise  of  Christian  institutions  and  communions  in  Buffalo. 
My  pastorship  there  continued  about  eight  years  until 
my  connection  with  the  Auburn  Seminary  as  financial 
agent,  and  afterward  with  the  cause  of  Home  Missions, 
and  at  length  with  the  College  of  Beloit  at  the  west. 
My  successors  at  Buffalo,  in  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the 
different  denominations,  were  largely  men  of  God,  and 
together  have  contributed  to  that  solidity  and  strength 
of  Christian  institutions  in  that  city  which  is  quite  ob- 
servable, if  not  peculiar. 

"  I  was  manied  to  Catherine  Seymour,  of  Rome,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  22d,  1820 ;  and  have  found  her  a  help-meet  in 
my  work,  and  one  in  whom  my  soul  could  always  con- 
fide. The  failure  of  her  health,  and  my  own  need  of 
relief  from  the  pressure  of  so  large  a  charge,  and  the 
many  responsibilities  which  crowded  on  me,  from  the 
state  of  the  surrounding  country,  led  me  to  resign  my 
position,  with  a  view  of  spending  sl  year  or  two  in  travel, 
and  residence  at  some  seat  of  Theological  Science. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1817  I  first  attended  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  PhiladelDhia. 


22  NIAGARA   PRESBYTERY. 

as  a  Commissioner  from  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva ;  and 
in  company  with  Dr.  Axtell,  and  others. 

"In  1818  I  was  set  off,  by  the  Synod  of  Geneva,  with 
two  other  ministers.  Rev.  Hugh  Wallis,  and  Rev.  M. 
Tuller,  not  then  pastoi*s,  into  a  new  Presbytery, — ^Niag- 
ara Presbytery, — which  was  the  origin  of  what  is  now 
called  the  Buffalo  Presbytery,  and  one  of  the  original 
germs  of  the  present  Synod  of  Genesee." 


AUBURN   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.  23 


CHAPTER  IV. 

RELATION  TO  AUBURN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY. 

"  The  Theological  Seminary  at  Auburn  was  the  child 
of  the  Synod  of  Geneva.  Dr.  Axtell  was  Moderator  of 
the  Synod  when,  in  1818,  in  its  sessions  at  Rochester, 
the  institution  was  overtured  and  provisionally  projected 
and  determined  on.  Some  things  respecting  this  have 
not  been  written,  and  I  dwell  upon  them  for  a  moment. 
The  Bill,  as  overtured  to  the  Synod,  contemplated  an 
Academico-Theological  institution,  taking  young  men 
from  the  plough  and  the  work  shop,  and  in  a  term  of 
some  four  years  fitting  them  for  the  ministry,  without 
the  advantages  of  the  College  course.  To  this  some  of 
us  were  opposed :  my  own  Presbytery  without  excep- 
tion. We  had  had  the  privilege  of  a  full  course,  and  we 
claimed  it  for  the  Seminary  and  its  students.  But  after  a 
discussion  of  two  days,  the  vote  went  against  us,  and  a 
committee  of  twenty-one  members,  from  different  por- 
tions of  Synod  and  Presbyteries  east  of  us,  was  appoint- 
ed to  give  it  effect  and  establish  the  institution.  As 
Buffalo  was  a  point  of  some  importance,  my  name  was 
put  on  the  committee  ;  and  at  our  meeting  in  Canandai- 
gua  in  June  following,  I  was  happy  to  meet  Dr.  Davis, 
then  President  of  Hamilton  College,  as  a  member  of  the 
committee,  and  to  learn  that  his  views  fully  accorded 
with  my  own  as  to  the  plan  of  the  Institution.     These 


24  AUBURN   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY. 

views  were  fully  and  successfully  laid  before  the  com- 
mittee, and  a  vote  was  passed  by  it  requesting  a  special 
meeting  of  Synod  to  amend  their  minute  and  make  the 
Seminary  ai3propriately  theological,  and  anticij)ating  for 
its  students  the  full  academic  and  collegiate  course  of 
study.  This  was  done  by  Synod  in  August  following, 
at  Auburn,  and  the  stake  stuck  there  ;  but  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  anxiety  and  the  struggle  it  cost  to  place  it 
there  on  the  basis  of  usefulness  it  now  occupies,  has  al- 
m  ost  passed  from  the  minds  of  the  living.  Distinguished 
men  have  filled  its  chairs,  and  many  sous  of  the  church 
have  gone  forth  to  honor  it,  and  never  more  than  now. 
With  its  full  coi-ps  of  instructors,  and  its  ample  accom- 
modations and  its  deep  hold  of  the  affections  of  the 
churches,  it  promises  much  for  "Western  New  York  not 
only,  but  for  the  destitute  and  needy  of  every  land  and 
clime. 

"  On  resigning  my  pastoral  chai'ge  at  B.,  I  was  re- 
quested to  become  the  financial  agent  of  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Auburn,  and  much  against  my  previous 
views  and  inclinations,  was  induced,  in  consideration  of 
its  pressing  importance,  to  undertake  the  work.  In  this 
work  I  spent  more  than  a  year,  mainly  in  seeming  the 
endowment  of  two  professorships,  and  the  getting  of  a 
competent  Library.  My  agency  led  me  to  spend  a  win- 
ter in  the  city  of  New  York  ;  and  there  in  the  work  my 
health  failed,  and  I  was  two  months  sick,  and  my  gen- 
eral health  much  impaired  for  a  long  time  after  ;  indeed, 
it  never  since  has  been  so  firm  as  before." 

Among  the  papers  of  Dr.  Squier  is  found  a  form  of 
letter,  which  seems  to  be  the  first  draft  of  those  which 


AUBURN   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.  25 

he  sent  to  various  gentlemen  of  property  whom  he  in- 
tended afterwards  to  visit  for  the  pm'pose  of  seeming 
one  thousand  dollar  subscriptions  by  personal  applica- 
tion. It  is  a  strong,  manly,  and  well  written  letter, 
showing  the  great  necessity  for  the  endowment  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  to  assist  in  meeting  the  wants  of 
the  country  and  of  the  world.  In  that  communication 
he  thus  Avi'ites  : — "  My  plan  is  to  find  twelve  men,  who 
will  be  willing  to  put  in  $1000  apiece  and  complete  the 
work — take  up  the  stock  in  this  bank,  and  get  their  in- 
terest in  the  love  of  doing  good  in  this  world  and  in  the 
awards  of  our  Father's  kingdom  hereafter.  And  now, 
dear  sir,  the  question  I  have  to  ask  is  whether  you  will 
be  one  among  the  twelve,  and  be  responsible  for  one- 
twelfth  of  the  sum,  provided  I  can  get  the  rest  of  it, 
and  put  our  Seminary  on  a  permanent  footing  as  to 
fands,  to  diffuse  its  blessings  down  upon  our  congrega- 
tions, or  do  its  portion  toward  supplying  the  world  with 
able  and  faithful  ministers  till  time  shall  end.  I  wish 
you  to  carry  the  subject  in  prayer  to  God  for  direction, 
and  to  decide  with  the  good  of  souls,  and  the  day  of 
millennial  glory  before  you.  Think  how  the  Lord  has 
blessed  your  industry,  and  how  many  pieces  of  property 
you  have  out  of  which  you  could  raise  this,  and  not  take 
a  single  comfort  from  yourself  or  family.  Think  that  in 
all  probability,  you  will  not,  during  your  whole  life,  have 
another  Theological  Seminary  to  endow,  and  whether 
you  are  not  willing  to  become  so  much  poorer  in  this 
world,  for  the  sake  of  the  good,  which,  in  the  hands  of 
God,  we  hope  this  gratuity  would  do ;  and  then  you 
would  vastly  encourage  this  particular  effort,  and  besides 


26  AUBURN   THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY. 

I  know  not  in  how  many  ways,  God  may  make  it  up  to 
you.  '  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters,  for  thou  shalt 
find  it  after  many  days.'  *  The  liberal  soul  shall  be  made 
fat;  "  &c. 


HOME   MISSIONARY   SOCIETY.  27 


CHAPTER  V. 

RELATIVE  TO  THE  WESTERN  AGENCY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOME 
MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 

"  In  the  autumn  of  1825  I  returned  in  feeble  health 
to  my  father's  in  New  Haven,  Vt.,  and  spent  some  two 
or  three  months  in  agricultural  pursuits,  quite  to  the 
benefit  of  my  health:  supplied  the  congregation  of 
Springfield,  Vt.,  some  two  months,  and  the  rest  of  the 
winter  at  Bennington,  Vt.,  in  the  congregation  made 
vacant,  by  Rev.  A.  Peters  accepting  the  appointment  of 
Secretaiy  of  the  United  Domestic,  now  Home  Missionary, 
Society.  At  the  solicitation  of  that  Society  and  of  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Axtell  and  Dwight  of  Geneva,  I  undertook 
the  Secretaryship  and  Agency  of  the  Western  Agency 
of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  at  Geneva, 
and  removed  to  this  place  in  the  spring  of  1826,  and  en- 
tered on  the  work.  It  embraced  the  supervision  of 
Home  Missions  within  the  then  seventeen  westerly 
counties  in  this  State,  the  planting  of  new  congregations, 
the  sustaining  of  feeble  ones,  and  the  seeming  of  aid 
from  those  able  to  help,  as  well  as  the  gaining  of  an  over- 
plus of  means  for  the  more  destitute  portions  of  the 
country,  in  aid  of  the  general  treasury  of  the  Society. 
In  this  work  I  spent  seven  or  eight  years,  sustaining  on 
an  average  about  seventy  to  eighty  missionaries  on  our 
own  field,  defraying  expenses  of  the  Agency,  and  pay- 


n 


28  HOME   anSSIONARY   SOCIETY. 

ing  over  to  the  Parent  Treasury  an  annual  surplus  of 
from  two  thousand  to  foui*  thousand  dollars  above  the 
aggregate  expense  on  this  field." 


In  May,  1851.  ]VIi-.  S.  received  a  certificate  of  election  as 
a  Director  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society. 
It  was  accompanied  by  the  following  complimentary 
letter : 

New  York,  May  19th,  1851. 
Rev.  Miles  P.  Squier — Dear  Sir  : — 

I  liave  tlie  pleasure  to  forward  you  the  foregoing  certificate 
of  your  election  as  a  Director  of  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society.  As  in  times  past  we  have  been  favored  with  your  most 
valued  co-operation  in  carrying  forward  the  good  work  committed 
to  us,  so  now,  dwelling  where  so  recently  was  a  wilderness  that 
has  been  turned  into  a  garden  of  God,  we  shall  none  the  less 
prize  whatever  your  wise  head  and  liberal  heart,  and  large  expe- 
rience in  Home  Missionary  affairs  can  bring  to  our  aid  in  complet- 
ing what  is  yet  to  be  done  in  this  land  for  the  honor  of  our  Divine 
Master.  The  strength  of  Israel  be  on  your  right  hand  in  your 
new  post  of  duty.  Dr.  Erskine  Mason  we  laid  on  Friday  last 
beneath  the  clods  of  the  valley.  What  a  loss  to  Zion !  My 
heart  bleeds. 

Affectionately  Yours, 

Milton  Badger,  Sec. 


GENP:VA   LYCEUM.  29 


CHAPTER  VI. 

RELATION  TO  THE  GENEVA  LYCEUM. 

"In  1831  I  founded  the  Geneva  Lyceum.  The  Ge- 
neva Female  Seminary  was  previously  founded  on  my 
premises,  and  generally  under  my  care,  and  I  had  built 
a  house  for  its  accommodation.  This  latter  institution 
long  and  greatly  flourished  under  the  charge  of  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Ricord.  In  it  commenced  the  great  revival 
of  religion  in  Western  New  York  in  1831,  so  well 
known :  it  raised  up  many  valuable  females,  pious  and 
well  trained,  for  society  and  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

"  The  duties  devolving  on  me  as  Secretary  and  Agent 
of  Home  Missions,  together  with  an  acquaintance  other- 
wise extended,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  with  the 
state  of  classical  education  in  Western  New  York,  and 
the  need  of  further  efforts  to  train  up  pious  young  men 
for  the  Gospel  ministry,  and  to  give  them  a  full,  thorough 
and  appropriate  training  in  the  outset  of  their  classical 
course,  suggested  the  thought  of  establishing  this  Insti- 
tution. The  design  was  formed,  in  the  hope  of  fully 
meeting  the  plan  of  study  contemplated  by  the  American 
Education  Society  and  its  branches,  in  the  appropriately 
academical  course  of  the  student.  Believing  that  much 
in  respect  to  the  eminence  of  his  future  attainments,  and 
usefulness,  would  depend  on  the  views  entertained  by 
him,  and  the  habits  of  mind  and  heart  he  should  form, 


30  GENEVA    LYCEUM. 

in  the  commencement  of  his  career  as  a  scholar,  it  was 
thought  that  more  attention  should  be  given,  more  im- 
portance attached  to,  and  more  privileges  furnished  for 
this  part  of  his  course  than  had  hitherto  been  given. 
Signs  of  a  desire  in  some  quarters,  to  abridge  the  course 
of  study,  and  hasten  young  men  into  the  ministry  with- 
out due  preparation,  urged  the  execution  of  the  above 
design,  in  the  hope  of  contributing  some  influence  at 
least  in  the  right  direction. 

"  In  fulfillment  of  the  above  object,  after  a  wide  sur- 
vey of  the  country  for  a  location,  and  much  reflection, 
the  premises  of  the  late  Dr.  Henry  Axtell,  of  this  place , 
were  purchased  in  the  month  of  May,  1831. 

"  This  spot  was  selected  as  being  in  the  midst  of  a 
community,  intelligent,  refined,  moral  and  Christian, 
whose  influences  and  privileges,  would  be  fevorable  to 
the  pupils  of  such  an  institution,  and  adapted  to  its  ob- 
jects, containing  and  likely  to  contain  a  number  of  liter- 
ary gentlemen,  who  would  bring  to  the  Institution 
incidental  instruction,  and  fostering  patronage : — a  sit- 
uation central  in  Western  New  York,  easy  of  access, 
and  in  itself  healthful,  rural,  pleasant,  retired,  command- 
ing a  good  land  and  water  prospect,  and  combining  the 
privileges  of  both  village  and  country. 

"In  September,  1831,  arrangements  were  made  with 
the  Rev.  Eleazer  Lathrop,  then  pastor  of  the  Presby- 
terian congi'egation  of  Elmira,  to  open  and  take  charge 
of  the  institution  as  its  Principal  in  instruction,  and  em- 
ploying the  Rev.  Asa  Messer,  of  this  place,  then  teach- 
ing a  select  school,  as  his  assistant. 

"  October  3d,  1831,  the  Institution  was  opened  by  the 


GENEVA   LYCEUM.  31 

above  gentlemen,  with  reasonably  favorable  prospects, 
and  the  character,  and  objects  of  young  men  entering, 
were  to  a  large  extent  such  as  coincided  with  the  chief 
design  of  the  Institution." 

In  consequence  of  the  failure  of  Mr.  Lathrop's 
health  before  the  close  of  the  year,  the  Rev.  Justus  W. 
French,  of  Hardwick,  Vt.,  was  elected  in  his  place,  and 
took  charge  of  the  Institution  in  October,  1832,  and  re- 
mained in  charge  of  it  till  July,  1837,  when  the  number 
of  students  in  attendance  was  nearly  one  hundred. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1832,  the  "  South  Hall" 
was  erected  at  an  expense  of  about  |3000,  and  at  the 
laying  of  its  corner  stone  an  able  address  was  delivered 
by  Dr.  Squier,  the  design  of  which  was  to  show  that 
knowledge  is  the  natural  aliment  of  the  mind :  that  it  is 
indispensable  to  the  exercise  of  the  rational  powers,  to 
the  growth  of  intellect,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  the  re- 
ligious affections  :  that  without  it  mind  is  of  no  use,  and 
creation  without  an  object.  He  illustrated,  at  length, 
the  position  that  all  knowledge  is  summarily  embraced 
under  two  heads : — the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  His 
works,  and  that  these  comprehensive  departments  of 
knowledge  are  associated  in  the  relation  of  cause  and 
effect.  He  also  showed  that  knowledge  is  essential  to 
the  formation  of  character  and  to  preparation  for  duty ; 
and  further,  that  at  no  previous  period  of  the  world  had 
the  demands  for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  and 
for  mental  culture  been  more  imperative. 

"  The  gates  of  the  temple  of  knowledge,"  said  he,  in 
his  address,  "  should  be  thrown  wide  open.  The  differ- 
ent professions  should  be  filled  with  a  high  order  of  in- 


32  GENEVA   LYCEUM. 

tellect,  and  the  genius  and  talents  of  the  world  be  made 
tributary  to  the  work  of  love.  The  resources  of  the 
combined  intellect  and  wisdom  of  men  should  be 
brought  to  bear  with  unwonted  momentum  and  effect 
upon  the  emancipation  of  the  race  from  the  curse  of  sin 
into  the  gi*ace  and  liberty  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

In  speaking  of  the  design  for  which  the  Institution 
was  founded,  and  of  the  results  that  were  to  be  sought 
after  in  its  future  operations,  the  enlightened  and  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  the  founder  is  clearly  discerned.  The  con- 
cluding part  of  the  address  is  particularly  worthy  of 
preservation,  as  an  indication  of  the  high  and  sacred 
purposes  to  which  he  devoted  his  talents,  his  propeiiy, 
and  his  influence.  It  is  also  worthy  of  preservation  as 
showing  the  legitimate  and  the  most  important  and  ap- 
propriate design  of  all  institutions  of  learning  : — 

"  We  desire  that  this  Institution  may  harmonize  with 
the  redeeming  providence  of  God.  We  would  help  to 
cultivate  some  immortal  minds  for  God  and  the  Church, 
for  society  and  the  world  ;  we  would  contribute  our 
share  of  influence  in  concert  with  other  institutions  of 
learning  and  religion  in  the  land  and  world,  in  repelling 
ignorance  and  sin,  and  striving  together  for  the  univer- 
sal difiiision  of  knowledge  and  righteousness  among 
men. 

"  In  prosecution  of  this  high  aim  would  we  erect  this 
intended  edifice,  whose  corner  stone  we  now  lay,  and  ive 
consecrate  the  building  and  the  Institution  to  Christ  and  the 
Church,  to  the  cause  of  truth,  learning  and  religion,  and  ask 
for  the  undertaking,  the  protection,  guidance,  and  gra- 
cious smiles  of  that  God,  who  *  is  light,  and  in  whom  is 


GENEVA  LYCEUM.  33 

no  darkness  at  all.'  May  His  favoring  providence 
attend  us  in  its  prosecution ;  may  no  evil  befall  the  work 
or  them  that  work  upon  it,  and  may  our  design  prosper, 
and  obtain  favor  in  the  eyes  of  them  that  love  Zion. 
May  this  Institution,  now  in  its  infancy,  be  nurtured  by 
a  kind  Providence.  May  it  not  only  be  a  seat  of  the 
muses,  and  a  nm'seiy  of  sound  science,  but  a  consecrated 
spot  on  which  the  Sj)irit  of  God  shall  often  descend  in 
genial  reviving  influences,  when  intellect  shall  be  sanc- 
tified, and  immortal  mind  shall  be  endowed  for  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  this  age,  of  the  church,  and  the  world. 
May  many  sons  of  the  Church  go  forth  from  it,  in  suc- 
cessive years,  who  shall  eventually  '  preach  righteousness 
in  the  great  congregation,'  and  convey  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  crucified  to  those  who  '  sit  in  darkness  and  see 
no  light.'  May  distant  heathen  nations  feel  its  influence, 
and  Christian  lands  be  blessed,  by  its  streams.  May  it 
rear  up  intellect  for  every  profession  and.  useful  depart- 
ment of  life  ;  and  may  this  Institution,  these  buildings, 
and  such  others  as  future  wants  shall  authorize,  these 
grounds,  and  fields,  and  gToves,  so  pleasant  to  the  eye, 
have  the  blessing  from  on  high,  and  long  be  sacred  to 
the  cause  of  learning  and  religion,  sacred  to  the  truth 
and  service  of  the  ever-living  Jehovah,  and  to  His  name, 
to  '  the  Three  that  bear  record  in  Heaven," — the  Father, 
the  Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, — be  praise  everlasting." 


At  an  Anniversary  exhibition  of  the  Lyceum,  in  the 

Presbyterian  Church,  July,  1833,  Dr.  Squier  pronounced 

an  Address,  highly  instructive,  and  full  of  wise  Christian 

counsels  ;  and  from  it  we  learn  the  admirable  influence 

3 


34  GENEVA   LYCEUM. 

which  the  Institution  was  exerting  and  the  cheering  re- 
sults which  it  had  already  accomplished.  He  states, 
that  of  the  seventy-four  young  gentlemen  and  youth 
connected  with  the  Lyceum,  the  term  then  closing, 
sixty-eight  had  been  pursuing  a  classical  course,  having 
the  learned  professions  in  view  ;  sixty  were  entertaining 
the  hope  of  personal  piety  ;  fifty-six  were  pursuing  study 
with  reference  to  the  Gospel  ministiy. 

The  admirable  tone  of  the  Address  will  be  discov- 
ered in. the  following  extracts : — 

"Take  heed  to  your  characters,  to  your  bodies,  to 
your  souls. 

(1.)  "*A  good  name,'  in  the  language  of  the  wise 
man,  *  is  better  than  precious  ointment.'  Character  is 
indeed  everything.  It  is  indispensable  to  usefulness  or 
success  in  any  valuable  undertaking.  An  apostle  sent 
the  injunction  to  his  own  son  in  the  faith, — '  Let  no 
man  despise  thee.'  Do  nothing  to  forfeit  the  respect, 
the  esteem,  the  confidence  of  your  fellow  men.  From 
upright  and  honest  principles,  pursue  upright  and  honest 
ends, — keeping  conscience  void  of  oftence,  toward  God 
and  toward  men.  Aim  at  consistency  of  character  in 
everything,  and  be  known  and  read  of  all,  as  the  unde- 
viating  friends  of  truth  and  virtue.  You  are  young, — 
'  flee  youthful  lusts.'  Turn  from  the  syren  song  of  pleas- 
ure, under  every  form  of  seduction,  and  follow  after 
righteousness,  recollecting  that,  '  the  end  of  the  com- 
mandment is  charity  out  of  a  pure  heart,  and  of  a  good 
conscience,  and  of  faith  unfeigned.'  " 

(2.)  "  Take  care  of  these  bodies.  They  ^re  the  case- 
ment of  an  immortal  mind,  its  organ  of  communication, 


GENEVA   LYCEUM.  35 

with  the  exterior  universe  around  it ;  its  handmaid  to 
duty,  and  usefulness,  and  the  minister  of  its  expansion 
and  happiness." 

"  In  respect  to  most  of  you,  we  trust,  that  these  bodies 
have  become  the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  re- 
spect to  you  all,  we  can  but  anticipate  the  day  when  you 
will  yield  them  to  Him,  whose  of  right  they  are.  Pre- 
serve them  for  the  Master's  use.  Do  nothing  to  induce 
disease,  and  bring  on  premature  feebleness  and  decay. 
In  the  period  of  relaxation  from  study  now  allowed  you, 
give  yourselves  up  to  cheerful,  vigorous,  healthful  exer- 
ercise.  Turn  to  the  labors  of  the  field,  or  the  workshop 
or  some  other  of  the  employments  of  active  life,  and  be 
sure  to  return  to  us,  if  God  permit,  with  the  flush  of 
health  on  your  cheek,  and  a  firmness  of  nerve,  that  will 
effectually  resist  the  tendencies  of  sedentary  habits." 

(3.)  "  Take  heed  to  your  souls.  They  are  that  im- 
mortal part,  which  comprises  the  sum,  and  stamps  the 
value  of  your  existence.  '  Keep  thy  heart  with  all  dil- 
igence, for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life.'  In  leaving 
for  a  season  your  accustomed  retreat  of  study,  and  of 
Christian  privilege,  you  pass  not  from  under  the  eye  of 
God  or  get  away  from  the  resj)onsibility  of  duty.  The 
obligations  of  religion  equally  attend  you,  wherever  you 
go,  wherever  you  are.  Be  mindful  of  this,  and  let  the 
conviction  of  it  ever  rest  on  your  minds.  You  will  be 
surrounded  with  temptations.  The  net  will  be  spread 
for  your  feet.  Be  aware  of  this.  Tm*n  from  the  way  of 
the  destroyer.  Avoid  the  avenues  to  sin.  '  Shun  even 
the  appearance  of  evil.'  Are  any  of  you  destitute  of  a 
good  hope  in  Jesus  Christ  *?     To  such,  we  can  but  again, 


36  GENEVA    LYCEUM. 

as  often  before,  commend  a  personal  interest  in  the  Sa- 
viom-,  as  now  your  great  concern.  Flee  at  once  to  the 
stronghold  in  Zion.  Let  these  powers,  these  attain- 
ments, yom*  whole  souls,  your  opportunities,  your  pros- 
pects of  future  influence  and  usefulness,  be  early,  be 
now,  baptized  at  the  fount  of  forgiveness ;  and  in  the 
School  of  Christ  be  trained  for  His  service  and  His 
kingdom." 

"  My  young  Christian  friends,  make  the  Bible  the  man 
of  your  counsel.  By  it  seek  to  know  and  do  the  will  of 
God.  Let  its  precepts  and  its  spirit  take  full  possession 
of  your  souls.  Though  away  from  your  wonted  retreats 
of  devotion,  forget  not  that  the  vows  of  God  are  on 
you, — that  the  life  of  yom*  religion  depends  very  much 
on  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  closet. 
Neglect  not  the  hour  of  prayer.  Turn  not  away  from 
the  company  of  the  pious, — forsake  not  the  assemblies 
of  God's  people.  Keep  under  the  body.  Let  grace 
reign  in  you.  Put  wholly  on  the  Lord  Jesus.  Let 
eveiy  power,  every  attainment  be  sanctified.  Keep  in 
view  the  rest  that  remaineth,  and  strive  ever  after  a 
growing  raeetness  for  it,  so  shall  you  fail  not  of  the  full 
reward  of  grace." 


As  a  further  illustration  of  the  high  intellectual  and 
religious  character  of  Dr.  Squier's  mind,  it  would  be  un- 
just to  withhold  the  following  extract,  though  quite  long, 
of  an  Address  which  he  delivered  August  4th,  1840,  at 
the  close  of  the  ninth  year  of  the  Geneva  Lyceum,  upon 


GENEVA   T.YCEUM. 


37 


a  highly  important  subject,  and  which  he  has  treated 
with  masterly  ability.     The  subject  is, — 

"  THE  MEN  WE  WANT." 

"  I  would  call  up  the  necessities  of  the  world  in  re- 
spect to  well-directed,  educated  mind. 

"  Beneficent  influence,  is  very  much  in  the  combined 
ratio  of  force  of  intellect  and  goodness  of  heart.  Intel- 
lectual strength,  and  right  principles,  must  be  united  in 
the  men  of  whom  we  speak.  They  must  have  sound 
minds  and  holy  hearts.  They  must  have  drunk  deep  at 
the  fountains  of  science,  and  have  gone  to  the  pool  in 
Siloam  too,  for  cleansing  from  sin.  They  must  stand  on 
the  elevation  of  knowledge  in  our  world,  and ,  receive 
the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  to  the  watchword 
of  Providence  and  the  calls  of  duty,  they  must  with 
their  whole  souls  respond, — '  Here,  Lord,  am  I,  send  me.' 
These  are  the  men  we  ivant.  This  is  the  great  desidera- 
tum of  the  age  in  doing  its  work ;  this  the  living  per- 
vading agency,  imploringly  called  for,  and  I  refer  to 
some  of  the  directions,  from  which  the  cry  comes  up, 
for  the  men  I  have  characterized. 

I.    THE  RESEARCHES  OF  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE. 

"  True,  much  advancement  is  already  made  in  this  de- 
partment of  knowledge,  and  its  adaptation  to  the  arts  of 
life.  But  more,  much  more  progress,  in  both  respects, 
remains  to  be  yet  made.  It  is  also  conceded,  that  men 
with  unsanctified  hearts  can  investigate  the  laws  and 
affinities  of  matter,  and  propound  their  discoveries  intel- 
ligibly to  others.  And  yet,  more  or  less  imperfection  is 
liable  to  attend  their .  researches,  and  their  statements. 


38  GENEVA   LYCEUM. 

They  are  wont  to  divorce  the  Creator  from  His.  works, 
and  familiarize  their  disciples  with  a  pantheistic  phrase- 
ology, on  the  one  hand,  or  the  dialect  of  atheism  on  the 
other.  Their  hearts  go  not  after  God,  and  they  do  not 
recognize  Him  in  the  things  He  has  made.  Besides, 
shall  not  the  sons  of  God  appreciate  the  operation  of  His 
hand?  There  is  affinity  between  the  Creator  and  His 
works :  there  is  relationship  between  truth  in  physics, 
and  truth  in  morals.  The  good  man  sees  God  in  the 
mechanism  of  the  Universe,  in  its  laws  and  adaptations, 
its  magazines  of  blessing  and  of  wi'ath.  He  loves  '  him 
that  begat,'  and  for  his  sake,  that  which  is  begotten. 
With  the  zest  of  affiliated  friendship  to  God,  he  threads 
the  labyrinths  of  nature,  and  brings  out  her  reluctant 
mysteries.  His  heart  sympathizes  with  his  studies  and 
happily  guides  them.  He  looks  at  physical  truth,  from 
a  point  of  observation,  and  under  aspects,  and  relations, 
peculiar  to  himself,  and  favoring  the  best  results.  He 
traces  all  to  the  intelligence  and  mighty  hand  of  God, 
and  speaks  of  it,  in  a  dialect  that  honors  him,  and  thus 
aids  in  giving  popular  and  legitimate  conviction  of  the 
presence  and  agency  of  God,  'in  the  things  that  are 
seen.' 

II.    THE  SAME  NECESSITY  EXISTS  IN  THE  WALKS  OF  LITERATURE. 

" '  Let  me  TV^ite  the  ballads  of  a  nation,'  says  one, 
'and  I  Ccare  not  who  makes  its  laws.'  The  periodical 
and  permanent  literature  of  a  people  have  a  vast  influence 
over  them  for  good  or  evil.  The  writings  of  Voltaire, 
and  of  other  infidels  of  his  day,  did  much  to  poison  the 
mind,  and  corrupt  the  manners  of  France,  and  the  Con- 


GENEVA   LYCEUM.  39 

tinent ;  to  blot  out  conscience  and  send  the  world  adrift 
without  helm  or  compass!  In  respect  to  American  lit- 
erature, this  is  a  plastic  age.  Much  that  comes  over 
sea  is  decidedly  deleterious,  and  that  which  is  poured 
forth  so  profusely  from  our  own  press,  on  criticism, 
poetry,  politics  and  morals,  and  a  variety  of  subjects  of 
more  or  less  general  and  permanent  interest,  is  of  a  very 
mixed  and  anomalous  character.  Ours  is  a  reading, 
busy,  investigating  age.  It  will  have  books,  it  will  seek 
supply  in  eveiy  form  of  publication  from  the  daily  penny 
sheet,  up  to  the  stately  volume.  Greater  solicitude 
should  be  felt  on  this  subject  by  the  wise  and  good. 
More  minds  of  the  first  class  should  be  at  work,  to  sanc- 
tify the  literature  of  our  country  and  of  the  age ;  to 
pour  into  works  of  taste  and  general  reading,  more  that 
is  evangelical ;  to  imbue  the  thoughts  and  leisure  time 
of  the  community,  with  principles,  and  maxims,  and  as- 
sociations coincident  with  the  integi*al  elements  of  truth, 
and  our  real  relations  to  God  and  each  other. 

in.    SEATS  OF  LEARNING. 

"  These  are  sources  of  great  and  abiding  influence  and 
interest.  Schools,  colleges,  and  seminaries  of  profes- 
sional study,  are  fountains  f^'om  which  issue  streams  to 
gladden  and  refresh,  or  blight  and  destroy.  Instructors 
in  them  are  captains  of  hundreds  and  of  thousands  in 
the  con^-egation  of  Israel.  They  teach  those  who  are 
to  teacl  the  rest  of  men.  They  mould  the  minds  and 
embodj  the  influences  which  shall  pervade  society,  and 
go  down  to  coming  generations.  They  should  be  em- 
inently wise  and  good  men,  and  able  to  give  to  science 


40  GENEVA    LYCEUM. 

and  literature  and  thought,  that  which  the  necessities  of 
the  age  demand.  The  di-aft  here  is  large,  and  will  be 
continual  and  increasing.  Presidents,  professors,  and 
teachers,  will  be  needed  in  all  our  professional,  collegiate, 
and  preparatory  institutions  through  the  breadth  of  the 
land,  among  the  heathen  and  over  the  world ;  and  they 
should  be  deficient  in  no  gifts  of  the  intellect  or  the 
heart.  They  should  be  men  of  master  minds,  capable 
of  forming  the  material  under  their  hands  to  great  and 
good  results,  and  of  leaving  theu*  impression  as  the 
world's  benefactors,  on  all  coming  time. 

•  IV.    THE  SAME  REMARKS  ARE  IN  PLACE,  IN  RESPECT  TO  THE 
LEARNED  PROFESSIONS  AS  A  WHOLE. 

"  On  then*  position  in  society,  and  the  weight  of  theii* 
influence,  it  would  be  gratuitous  to  dwell.  Tiey  need 
to  be  replenished  from  som-ces,  that  shall  not  only  sus- 
tain and  advance  their  professional  excellencies  and  abil- 
ity, but  make  them  increasingly  foimtains  of  spiritual 
health  and  blessing. 

'iSuch,  too,  are  the  claims  of  the  bench  of  JMstice,  the 
chair  of  state,  and  our  halls  of  legislation.  The  present  is 
a  crisis  in  the  world's  history.  The  policy  of  courts  and 
cabinets  is  not  equal  to  the  economy  of  Providence,  not 
to  the  hope  inspired  by  prophecy,  nor  to  the  cherished 
inheritance  of  the  rising  age.  There  is  too  mudi  of  that 
wisdom  which  is  '  earthly,  sensual  and  de\"ilish  \  too  lit- 
tle of  that  from  above,  which  is  '  pure,  peace^le  and 
fiill  of  good  fruits.'  And  here  I  can  but  referjthough 
with  shame,  to  scenes  of  tumult  and  personal  Molence, 
which,  alas!  too  oft^en  transpire  in  our  national  (legisla- 
ture, more  befitting  the  brawls  of  a  bar-room,  tUn  the 


GENEVA   LYCEUM.  41 

dignified  councils  of  a  great  republic.  Aye  !  one  sheds 
his  brother's  blood,  almost  within  sight  of  the  capitol, 
and  comes  fresh  from  the  fatal  encounter,  with  the  gait 
and  bearing  of  an  honorable  man,  to  his  seat  again  in 
the  grave  counsels  of  the  nation,  and  wipes  his  mouth, 
and  says,  '  I  have  done  no  iniquity.'  Oh !  it  is  an  offence 
to  high  heaven,  a  foul  blot  on  the  escutcheon  of  our 
country's  glory :  it  is  in  dereliction  of  the  necessities 
and  aspirations  of  the  age. 

"I  speak  the  faults  of  no  party  or  sect  in  politics,  as 
such.  There  needs  the  infusion  of  better  principles,  of 
higher  aims,  of  a  richer  sense  of  obligation  and  duty  to 
God.  There  must  be  more  men  who  fear  God  and  work 
righteousness  in  the  high  places  of  society,  to  mingle 
in  our  counsels  and  guide  the  helm  of  state.  More  coti- 
science,  and  more  practical  reference  to  the  precepts  df 
inspired  wisdom,  must  enter  into  that  composition  of 
forces,  which  urges  on  the  car  of  our  destiny.  The  dic- 
tates of  a  low,  worldly,  selfish  and  ambitious  policy  are 
out  of  place,  and  unequal  to  the  task.  Our  sails  must  be 
filled  with  the  breath  of  heaven.  More  sanctified  influ- 
ence must  go  up  into  the  seats  of  political  power  to 
avert  the  curse  of  God,  and  make  the  American  nation 
what  it  should  be:  the  light  and  benefactress  of  the 
world. 

"  I  intended  a  more  emphatic  reference  to  the  Gospel 
Ministry  in  this  discussion.  The  command  was  '  Go  ye 
and  teach  all  nations.'  Under  God,  the  ministry  of  re- 
conciliation is  the  sun  in  the  system  of  means  to  en- 
lighten and  regenerate  the  race  of  man.  It  is  worth 
more  to  this  end  than  all  other  agencies  combined.     Its 


42  GENEVA   LYCEUM. 

business  is  instruction.  Its  proper  function  is  a  worker 
together  with  God  in  the  pathway  of  His  redeeming 
Providence.  It  is  His  own  economy  for  the  conversion 
of  men  to,  holiness ;  for  ushering  in  a  glorious  latter 
day,  and  making  earth  like  heaven.  To  this  work  the 
minister  of  Christ  is  consecrated,  and  the  watchword  of 
Providence  now  is — 'up  and  onward,  for  the  harvest  of 
the  world  is  ripe.'  No  previous  age  perhaps,  has  furn- 
ished equal  facilities  for  advancing  this  work.  Help 
springs  from  the  perfection  of  the  arts,  from  the  easy 
intercourse  of  nations,  and  from  the  spirit  of  travel  and 
geographical  research.  The  heathen  world  is  opening 
to  the  entrance  of  Christian  Missions ;  and  it  would 
seem  to  be  time,  high  time,  to  place  it  undej  the  light  of 
the  Gospel,  and  to  bring  up  its  teeming  millions  from 
tte  darkness  and  degradation  of  their  gentile  state.  At 
home,  in  Christendom,  and  abroad,  among  all  nations, 
the  demand  is  limitless,  and  it  is  imperative  too.  The 
question  of  the  moral  renovation  of  the  race  is  hasten- 
ing to  conclusion.  The  world  is  getting  weary  of  idols. 
It  is  weaiy  too  of  the  shackles  of  the  ^man  oj  sin.'' 
Mind  is  breaking  loose  from  the  trammels  of  mere  au- 
thority. Agencies  in  religion,  in  politics  and  morals,  in 
commerce  and  in  the  daily  intercourse  of  life,  are  burst- 
ing the  cords  of  arbitrary  restraint.  Mind  will  be  self- 
governed.  As  well  may  you  hush  the  tempest  in  its 
wi'ath,  or  stay  the  avalanche  from  the  mountains,  as 
prevent  it.  But  in  vain  do  we  demonstrate  the  foolish- 
ness of  idols,  or  set  men  free  from  the  dominion  of  the 
Pope,  unless  w^e  put  them  under  law  to  truth,  to  conscience 
and  to  God.     They  may  as  well  be  left  to  idols,  as  be 


GENEVA   LYCEUM.  43 

without  restraint  of  any  kind.  If  they  may  not  feel 
the  supremacy  of  conscience,  and  be  intelligently  under 
the  sway  of  truth,  let  them  be  subject  to  any  tyrant 
principle,  whether  emanating  from  Rome,  or  Mecca,  or 
the  lying  vanities  of  Paganism.  Their  liberty  would 
only  be  licentiousness,  and  then*  condition  one  of  deeper 
wretchedness  than  before.  The  Gospel  is  the  world's 
great  hope — its  only  resort.  This  day  its  light  should 
be  penetrating  every  shore, — its  messengers  be  visiting 
every  clime,  and  its  full  action  be  enjoyed  by  all  people. 

"  In  view  of  wants  like  these  in  extent,  and  in  event- 
ful urgency,  do  we  speak  of  the  necessity  of  well-directed, 
educated  mind,  at  this  day.  In  the  light  of  these  positions 
do  we  discover  the  value  of  well-trained  youth,  with 
minds  and  hearts  equal  to  the  demands  that  are  upon 
us,  capable  of  rising  to  the  responsibilities  of  Providence 
now,  of  controling  the  moved  elements  of  human  thought 
and  feeling,  and  of  guiding  the  rising  age,  safely,  man- 
fully through  its  destiny  and  of  handing  it  down  to  the 
brighter,  better  hopes  that  follow. 

"  Allow  me  to  say  in  closing,  that  to  assist  in  some 
humble  measure  at  least,  in  rearing  up  this  class  of  minds 
here  refen-ed  to,  and  to  these  ends,  is  the  object  of  the 
Institution  whose  anniversary  exercises  we  are  now  at- 
tending." 


The  subsequent  history  of  the  Geneva  Lyceum  is  thus 
detailed  by  the  founder,  in  the  sketch  he  has  left  behind, 
of  the  prominent  events  and  acts  of  his  life  : — 

"  Soon  after  this  period,  the  American  Education  So- 
ciety and  its  branches,  in  a  period  of  some  perplexity, 


44  GENEVA   LYCEUM. 

adopted  the  unwise  expedient  of  aiding  no  young  man, 
in  his  course  for  the  ministry  imtil  he  had  entered  col- 
lege ;  and  as  might  be  expected  many  were  discharged, 
and  prevented  from  commencing  study.  The  means  of 
the  founder  of  Geneva  Lyceum  were  inadequate  to  this 
posture  of  the  case, — the  tuition  bills  became  insufficient 
for  the  teachers,  and  as  but  few  pious  young  men,  study- 
ing for  the  ministiy,  were  brought  forward,  the  design 
of  the  institution  could  not  be  sufficiently  met  to  war- 
rant its  continuance,  and  it  was  reluctantly  abandoned." 

"  Our  consolation  concerning  it  is,  that  it  has  done 
much  good,  having  besides  other  influences,  been  the 
means  of  introducing  into  the  Gospel  ministrj^,  it  is 
thought,  over  one  hundred  young  men,  whose  praise  is 
in  the  churches  and  whose  record  is  on  high." 

"  After  this  the  buildings  and  grounds  of  the  Lyceum 
were  oflfered  to  the  Synod  of  Geneva,  on  terms  every 
way  advantageous,  for  the  founding  of  a  College  in  this 
iocaUty, — terms  which  involved  a  donation  of  some  ten 
or  twelve  thousand  dollars,  by  the  proprietor.  This,  af- 
ter much  agitation  of  the  subject,  was,  from  some  lack 
of  public  spirit  perhaps,  and  more  it  is  likely,  from 
its  proximity  to  the  Episcopal  College  in  this  place,  was 
at  length  given  up,  and  the  premises  have  been  devoted 
to  other  purposes." 


One  testimony  of  the  value  of  this  Institution  is  here 
subjoined,  from  the  pen  of  an  alumnus,  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel,  a  president  of  a  college,  in  a  recent  letter 
to  Mrs.  Squier  : — 

"  I  there  formed  my  idea  of  the  value  of  institutions 


GENEVA   LYCEUM.  45 

for  Christian  Education.  No  one  can  measure  the  wide- 
reaching  influence  for  good  which  has  gone  out  from 
the  Geneva  Lyceum.  I  have  always  regretted  that  it 
could  not  have  remained  a  permanent  monument  to  the 
memory  of  your  husband.  But  he  was  spared  to  be  a 
light  and  a  blessing  to  many  young  men, — and  a  most 
valuable  contributor  to  Christian  thought, — a  champion 
of  pure  truth.  A  mind  like  his  must  feel  a  most  ex- 
quisite delight  in  that  world  of  unveiled  and  certain 
truth,  where  he  sees  so  clearly  that  '  God  is  light  and  in 
Him  is  no  darkness  at  all.'  " 


Dr.  Squier  now  furnishes  us  with  a  brief  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  his  time  was  occupied  from  1833 
to  1845,  in  the  following  language: — 

"After  closing  my  connection  with  the  A.  H.  M.  So- 
ciety in  1833,  most  of  my  time  was  occupied  in  the 
oversight  and  direction  of  the  Lyceum,  and  as  secretary, 
conducting  the  relations  of  its  beneficiaries  to  the  Edu- 
cation Society,  the  largest  list  of  whom  reported  any 
one  year,  in  the  Institution,  was  forty-four.  In  the  mean- 
time as  health  pei-mitted,  I  supplied  destitute  congrega- 
tions in  the  neighborhood ;  among  which  were  Junius, 
Newark,  Castleton  and  West  Fayette.  With  my  wife 
I  spent  the  winter  of  1839 — 40  in  Philadelphia,  and 
took  charge  of  the  first  congregation  of  Southwark,  in 
that  city ;  it  was  the  winter  in  which  the  *  Church  Case* 
(so  called)  was  traversed  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  in  which  it  was  my  lot  to  appear  as  a  wit- 
ness.    I  spent  also  several  winters  in  the  city  of  New 


46  THE    "  CHURCH    CASE." 

York,  and  one  in  oSTew  Bennington,  Vt.,  in  charge  of 
the  Presbyterian  congregation." 

The  testimony  offered  by  Dr.  Squier  in  the  case 
above  refeiTed  to,  relates  to  a  matter  of  history,  that 
will  deeply  interest  all  ministers  and  members  of  what 
has  since  been  denominated  the  New  School  Presbyte- 
rian Church.  It  describes  the  organization  of  its  first  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1835,  and  is  found 
on  pages  107  and  108  of  Lathrop's  elaborate  report  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  case,  published  by  McElroy. 
That  testimony  is  as  follows  : — 

Mr.  Squier,  in  continuation,  interrogated  by  IMi'.  Ran- 
dall : — "  I  was  present  at  the  organization  of  the  As- 
sembly of  1838.  After  tendering  the  commissions  to 
the  clerks,  I  gave  them  for  keeping  to  Mr.  Nixon.  I 
introduced  him  to  Dr.  Mason,  and  then  went  into  the 
house — found  the  house  veiy  densely  occupied  at  the 
south  end,  a  large  proportion  of  the  gentlemen  in  that 
part  of  it  being  of  the  Old  School  party.  The  sermon 
was  preached  as  usual,  and  at  its  close  the  Moderator 
(Dr.  Elliott)  announced  that  after  the  usual  prayer  he 
would  proceed  to  constitute  the  Assembly.  This  prayer 
being  finished,  he  took  his  place  in  front  of  the  pulpit? 
and  made  a  prayer,  at  the  close  of  which  Dr.  Patton 
rose  and  said,  that  he  held  in  his  hand  certain  resolu- 
tions which  he  wished  to  offer.  Dr.  Elliott  said  that 
was  not  the  time  to  present  resolutions.  Dr.  Patton 
said  that  he  was  anxious  to  present  them  at  that  time. 
Dr.  Elliott  stated  that  they  could  not  be  received,  as  the 
roll  was  the  next  thing  in  order;  and  I  think,  stated  that 
the  clerks  were  ready  to  make  their  report.     Dr.  Patton 


THE    "  CHURCH   CASE.  4 1 

stated  that  he  had  the  floor  l^efore  the  clerks,  and  that 
his  motion  related  to  the  roll.  The  Moderator  told  him 
he  was  out  of  order.  Dr.  Patton  appealed  from  his  de- 
cision. The  appeal  was  seconded,  to  the  best  of  my 
recollection.  The  Moderator  refused  to  put  the  appeal 
to  the  house,  saying  to  Dr.  Patton  he  was  out  of  order. 
Dr.  Patton  then  took  his  seat,  and  the  clerks  made  their 
repoi-t.  Dr.  Erskine  Mason  then  rose,  and  addressed  the 
Moderator,  saying  that  he  held  in  his  hand  the  commis- 
sions of  certain  commissioners,  from  the  Presbyteries 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Synods  of  XJtica,  Geneva, 
Genesee,  and  Western  Reserve,  which  had  been  refused 
by  the  clerks  ;  that  he  now  tendered  them  (holding  them 
up  to  view)  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  roll.  The 
Moderator  inquired  of  him  if  those  Presbyteries  were 
within  the  four  Synods.  He  replied  they  were.  The 
Moderator  replied  they  could  not  be  received,  or  in 
words  to  that  effect.  Dr.  Mason  then  appealed  from  the 
decision  of  the  Moderator  to  the  house,  which  appeal 
was  seconded.  The  Moderator  refused  to  put  the  ap- 
peal, declaring  it  out  of  order.  I  then  rose,  and  men- 
tioned to  the  Moderator,  that  my  commission  had  been 
tendered  to  the  clerks,  and  had  been  refused ;  and  I  now 
demanded  my  seat,  and  that  my  name  should  be  enrolled. 
The  Moderator  asked  what  Presbytery  I  represented.  I 
replied  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva.  The  Moderator 
asked  if  that  Presbytery  belonged  to  the  Synod  of  Ge- 
neva. I  replied  that  it  was  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Synod  of  Geneva.  He  then  said,  '  We  do  not  know 
you.'  Mr.  Cleaveland,  of  Detroit,  then  rose,  and  said, 
in  substance,  that  as  a  Constitutional  Assembly  must  be 


48  THE    "CHUBCH    CASE." 

organized  at  that  time  and  place,  by  the  admission  of  all 
proper  members  to  their  seats,  and  as  it  was  evident 
that  this  could  not  be  done  under  these  officers,  or  as  it 
was  impossible  to  go  on  and  constitute  or  organize  the 
Assembly  under  them,  he  moved  that  Dr.  Beman  take 
the  chaii',  which  motion  was  seconded,  and  was  put  by 
Mr.  Cleaveland.  Dr.  Beman  rose  immediately  after  the 
question  had  been  put  and  carried,  by  what  I  should 
think  a  neai'ly  unanimous  vote.  He  was  sitting  near  the 
front  of  the  slip.  A  motion  Avas  then  made  and  second- 
ed, and  was  put  by  Dr.  Beman,  that  Dr.  Mason  and  IVIi'. 
Gilbert  be  appointed  clerks.  Dr.  Beman,  the  acting 
Moderator,  then  called  for  nominations  for  the  regular 
Moderator  of  the  Assembly,  when  Dr.  Fisher  was  nom- 
inated, and  the  nomination  being  seconded,  and  none 
other  made,  the  question  was  put  viva  voce.  Dr.  Beman 
then  announced  to  Dr.  Fisher  that  he  was  elected  Mod- 
erator of  the  General  Assembly,  and  sho\ild  govern  him- 
self by  the  rules  thereafter  to  be  read  to  him.  The  Rev- 
Dr.  Mason  Avas  then  nominated  as  stated  clerk,  and  Mr. 
Gilbert  as  permanent  clerk,  which  nominations  were  put 
by  Dr.  Fisher,  and  carried.  Some  paper  was  then  read 
or  refeiTed  to,  the  purport,  of  which  I  did  not  then  un- 
derstand. On  the  back  of  this,  a  motion  was  made  to 
adjourn  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  The  paper 
was  on  the  subject  of  the  occupancy  of  the  house,  and 
signed  by  a  Mr.  Schott.  I  cannot  state  by  whom  it  was 
read,  but  to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  it  was  by  Dr. 
Beman.  The  body  then  retired  to  the  Session-room  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Moderator  announc- 
ing that  if  there  were  any  other  commissions,  which  had 


THE  "church  case."  49 

not  yet  been  presented,  they  would  be  received  there. 
After  getting  to  the  Lecture-room  of  the  Fii*st  Church, 
the  business  went  on  as  usual." 

The  resolutions  offered  by  the  Rev.  Wm.  Patton,  D.  D., 
of  New  York,  and  referred  to  in  Dr.  Squier's  testimony, 
were,  with  the  preamble,  as  follows : — 

"  Whereas,  The  General  Assembly  of  1837  adopted  certain 
resolutions  intended  to  deprive  certain  Presbyteries  of  the  right 
to  be  represented  in  the  General  Assembly ;  and  whereas,  the 
more  fully  to  accomplish  their  purpose,  the  said  Assembly  of 
1837  did  require  and  receive  from  their  clerks  a  pledge  or  prom- 
ise, that  they  would,  in  making  out  the  roll  of  Commissioners  to 
constitute  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  omit  to  introduce  there 
in  the  names  of  Commissioners  from  said  Presbyteries ;  and  where, 
as,  the  said  clerks,  having  been  requested  by  Commissioners  from 
the  said  Presbyteries  to  receive  their  commissions  and  enter  their 
names  on  the  roll  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  now  about  to 
be  organized,  have  refused  to  receive  and  enter  the  same  ;  there, 
fore — 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  such  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1837,  and  their  clerks,  to  direct  and  control  the  or- 
ganization of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838,  are  unconstitutional^ 
and  in  derogation  of  its  just  rights  as  the  general  representative 
judicatory  of  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  cannot  be  legally 
constituted,  except  by  admitting  to  seats,  and  to  equality  of 
powers,  in  the  first  instance,  all  commissioners  who  present  the 
usual  evidences  of  their  appointment ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  clerks,  and  they  are  hereby  directed  to  form  the  roll  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  1838,  by  including  therein  the  names  of  all 
commissioners  from  Presbyteries  belonging  to  the  said  Presby- 
terian Church,  not  omitting  the  Commissioners  from  the  several 
4 


50  THE    "church   case." 

Presbyteries  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva, 
Genesee,  and  the  Western  Reserve ;  and  in  all  things  to  form 
the  said  roll  according  to  the  known  practice  and  establlihed 
usage  of  previous  General  Assemblies." 


CONNECTION   WITH   BELOIT   COLLEGE.  51 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CONNECTION  WITH  BELOIT  COLLEGE. 

The  operations  of  the  Geneva  Lyceum  having  now 
been  brought  to  a  close,  as  related  on  a  previous  page, 
Dr.  Squier,  nevertheless,  did  not  relinquish  the  noble 
purpose  to  consecrate  his  life  and  pecuniary  means  to 
the  cause  of  Christian  Education,  and  with  a  more  spe- 
cial and  immediate  view  to  the  raising  up  of  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  as  appears  from  the  following  statements 
which  he  has  left  on  record : — 

"  In  1845,  I  attended  as  a  delegate  from  the  Presby- 
tery of  Geneva  the  Convention  of  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  ministers,  in  Detroit,  Michigan ;  and 
from  representations  then  made  me,  and  the  views  I 
then  took  of  the  commanding  importance  of  Education- 
al Institutions  in  the  great  western  valley,  was  induced 
to  extend  my  journey  farther  than  Detroit,  and  visit  the 
site  of  a  proposed  College  or  University  at  Beloit,  Wis- 
consin. The  country,  the  people,  the  conventions  that 
had  assembled  on  the  subject,  pleased  me.  In  view  of 
the  Christian  aspect  of  the  whole  matter,  I  resolved  if  a 
University  charter  was  obtained,  and  the  subject  pros- 
ecuted in  good  faith,  to  throw  in  my  influence  and  stick 
my  stake  there.  In  1846  the  charter  was  obtained,  and 
in  1847,  the  corner  stone  of  its  present  fine  edifice  was 
laid,  and  the  College  went  into  operation,  in  the  instruc- 

0?  THS'^^^ 


(Uiri7EESIT7l 


52  CONNECTION   WITH   BELOIT   COLLEGE. 

tion  of  its  preparatory  classes.  In  1849  I  received  the 
invitation  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  College  to 
the  chair  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  in- 
stitution, and  visited  the  ground  in  the  spring  of  1850, 
with  my  cherished  friend,  Rev.  A.  D.  Gridley,  of  Clin- 
ton, to  ascertain  more  fully  the  path  of  duty, — extending 
our  journey  thence  into  Iowa,  and  to  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony. 

"  On  my  return  to  Geneva,  I  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment tendered  me  in  the  College,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1851  entered  on  its  duties,  taking  charge  of  one  recita- 
tion a  day  of  the  Senior  Class,  and  giving  a  course  of 
public  lectures  to  the  whole  College  (and  invited  hearers) 
in  my  department  of  instruction,  and  closing  with  an 
Inaugural  Address  on  the  morning  of  Commencement 
Day,  on  *  The  Province  of  the  American  Scholar."*  The 
Addi-ess  was  published  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and 
that  Commencement  Day,  by  the  presence  of  its  friends, 
and  the  exercises  of  the  students,  and  the  favor  of  God, 
was  one  of  much  interest  and  advancement  to  the  Col- 
lege. A  Collegiate  Freshman  Class  of  sixteen  was  then 
entered  for  the  next  year,  against  a  graduating  class  of 
three  students.'* 


It  would  seem,  from  a  letter  of  Dr.  Squier  of  July  2, 
1845,  addressed  to  those  in  Beloit  interested  in  fouhding 
the  College,  that  he  participated  largely  in  the  labor  of 
projecting  it,  and  in  suggesting  the  best  methods  of 
securing  the  end  in  view.  His  heart  seems  to  have  been 
warmly  engaged  in  this  new  enterprise,  as  is  evident 
from  his  proposition  therein  contained,  to  throw  his 


CONNECTION   WITH   BELOIT   COLLEGE.  53 

means  largely  into  it,  commencing  with  a  subscription 
of  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  to  perform  the  duties  of  the 
Professorship  of  Intellectual  Science  and  Divinity,  and 
also  to  devote  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  fiscal  and 
general  interests  of  the  Institution,  involving  a  traveling 
agency  for  that  purpose.  He  proposed  to  bring  his 
Library  into  the  sei-vice  of  the  Institution,  as  he  had  no 
children  to  need  it,  and  states  that  as  soon  as  the  way 
should  be  clear  for  connecting  himself  with  it,  both  he 
and  his  beloved  wife  would  be  gratified  to  give  the  re- 
mainder of  their  days  to  some  nascent  and  promising 
institution  of  science  and  piety  in  the  great  west — to 
make  a  sort  of  child  of  it,  and  to  do  for  it  what  they 
could,  and  leave  to  it  the  legacy  of  their  prayers  and 
means,  mainly,  as  God  should  enable  them,  and  mark 
out  the  line  of  duty. 


This  perhaps  will  be  the  most  convenient  place  to  in- 
sert the  following  letter : — 

MiDDLEBUKY,  Aug.  20th,  1852. 
Dear  Sir  : — It  gives  me  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  the  Pres- 
ident and  Fellows  of  Middlebury  College,  at  their  late  annual 
meeting,  conferred  on  you  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  in 
Divinity. 

Respectfully  yours, 
B.  Labaree, 
Rev.  Miles  P.  Squier,  D.  D.  Pres't.  Mid.  Coll. 


Dr.  Squier's  connection  with  Beloit  College  is  thus 
described  by  President  Chapin  in  a  lecture  delivered  in 
the  College  chapel  a  few  days  after  Dr.  Squier's  de- 
cease.   It  is  remarkable  that  the  lecture,  which  came 


54  CONNECTION   WITH   BELOIT   COLLEGE. 

in  a  regular  course  of  exposition  of  the  early  records  of 
the  Bible,  closed  with  the  translation  of  Enoch  and  its 
impressive  lesson — as  President  C.  remarks : — 

"  By  a  striking  coincidence  the  Providence  of  God  to- 
day brings  this  lesson  veiy  near  to  us,  teachers  and  stu- 
dents of  Beloit  College.  But  yesterday,  the  announce- 
ment came  that  one  who  has  been  for  years  very  pleas- 
antly associated  with  us,  whose  venerable  face  we  have 
seen  and  whose  kindly  voice  we  have  heard  often  in  this 
place,  has  just  been  called  home ;  and  here,  where  we 
were  daily  looking  to  see  him  again,  '  he  is  not,'  for  on 
Friday,  a  week  ago,  '  God  took  him.'  "***** 

"  He  fixed  his  home  in  the  beautiful  village  of  Geneva, 
New  York,  and  after  leaving  his  missionary  work,  was 
much  engaged  in  efforts  to  establish  there  an  institution 
of  learning,  to  help  forward  the  young  men  of  that  re- 
gion in  preparation  for  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry. 
Although,  through  lack  of  general  co-operation,  that  in- 
stitution was  not  settled  on  a  permanent  foundation, 
considerable  success  attended  the  effort  with  reference 
to  its  direct  object,  as  not  a  few  men,  some  of  them  now 
eminent  in  the  church,  trained  by  his  aid,  can  attest. 
The  interest  then  manifested  in  the  work  of  Christian 
education,  he  never  lost.  As  he  advanced  in  years  and 
had  more  leisure,  he  occupied  himself  with  metaphysi- 
cal studies,  for  which  he  had  a  natural  fondness,  and 
was  looking  arour^d  for  some  institution  with  which  he 
might  be  identified  as  an  instructor.  He  thus  became 
interested  in  the  steps  taken  for  the  founding  of  Beloit 
College,  and  in  the  summer  of  1849  received  an  ap- 
pointment as  Professor  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Phil- 


CONNECTION   WITH   BELOIT   COLLEGE.  55 

osophy  in  this  institution.  In  the  following  year,  he 
accepted  the  appointment,  having  provided  out  of  his 
own  resources  for  the  endowment  of  the  chair.  His  in- 
tention then  was  to  transfer  his  property  and  his  home 
hither  and  come  into  close  connection  with  our  work 
But  his  circumstances  at  the  East  and  the  difficulty,  at 
"iis  time  of  life  of  adapting  himself  to  the  constant 
vork  of  the  class  room,  led  him  to  change  his  purpose, 
aid  content  himself  with  spending  a  few  weeks  of  each 
y«ar  with  us,  giving  instruction  in  his  department  both 
bj  recitations  and  by  lectures." 

•'  For  the  last  five  years,  his  health  has  been  precari- 
ous and  his  duties  here  consequently  interrupted.  His 
last  visit  was  in  1863,  three  years  ago.  In  consequence 
of  ncreasing  infirmities,  he  then  made  arrangements  to 
past  the  work  of  his  Department  into  other  hands, 
thoigh  his  name  has  still  had  a  place  on  our  catalogue, 
as  Professor  Emeritus.  During  the  last  two  years 
he  las  been  quite  an  invalid;  yet,  in  April  last, 
I  received  a  letter  from  him  expressing  anew  his 
interest  and  love  for  the  College  and  the  hope  that  he 
miglt  be  with  us  once  more,  at  our  approaching  Com- 
menciment.  In  that  letter,  he  speaks,  as  he  was  apt  to 
do,  o;'  the  great  want  and  the  great  hope  of  the  king- 
dom (f  Christ,  whose  interests  lay  always  near  his  heart. 
He  srys :  *  The  times  are  big  with  interest — the  West 
and  tie  South  are  opening  and  the  world  indeed  to  the 
ingress  of  light  and  truth.  Sanctified  intellect  is  the 
3rder  of  the  day.  Christian  civilization  and  the  in- 
poming  of  millennial  times  are  the  aspu-ation  and  the 
throe  of  humanity  and  the  aim  of  the  Providence  of 


56  CONNECTION  WITH   BELOIT   COLLEGE. 

God.     Give  us  the  men — the  men  we  want.    Money  will 
come  easier  and  is  made  faster.'  " 


The  Lectures  delivered  by  Dr.  S.,  at  Beloit  College, 
were  on  the  following  subjects,  viz  : — 
The  Truth  of  Religion  ; 

The  Method  and  the  Acquisition  of  Knowledge ;  / 

Mental  and  Moral  Habits ; 

The  Value  of  a  Philosophical  Mind ;  ' 

The  Value  of  Moral  Science ;  / 

The  Generic  Properties  of  Mind ;  / 

Philosophy  and  Its  Uses ; 
Elements  of  Moral  Science ; 
Lectures  on  Subjects  connected  with  his  late  visit  in  Eur(pe. 


The  last  act  of  pious  and  substantial  regard  which  he 
performed  to  Beloit  College,  upon  which  he  had  bestow- 
ed ten  thousand  dollars  in  the  endowment  of  the  Tro- 
fessorship  of  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy,  wai  to 
direct  in  his  will  the  transfer  to  the  College  of  su<h  a 
portion  of  his  private  Library  as  the  President  night 
deem  suitable  to  enhance  the  worth  and  the  usefuhess 
of  the  Institution. 

The  following  minute  was  adopted  by  the  Faculy  of 
Beloit  College,  July  4th,  1866  :— 

V^Thereas,  It  has  pleased  the  Heavenly  Father  to  caljaway 
our  loved  and  honored  associate,  Rev.  M.  P.  Squier,  D.  L,  late 
Professor  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy  in  this  Cdlege, 
and  whose  sympathies,  gifts,  counsels,  labors  and  prayers  have 
been  identified  with  the  foundation  and  the  building  of  the  CoL, 
lege,  \ 

Resolved,  That  while  we  unite  with  his  more  immediate  fam- 
ily circle  in  sorrow,  that  we  shall  see  his  face  no  more,  we  also 


il 


CONNECTION  WITH  BELOIT   COLLEGE.  57 

unite  in  thankful  remembrance  of  all  the  blessing  with  which  his 
life  was  filled,  and  that  we  will  cherish  his  memory  as  a  part  of 
the  histoiy  of  the  College,  and  as  an  incitement  to  such  enthu- 
siasm in  Christian  aspiration,  action,  and  thought  as  so  eminent- 
ly distinguished  his  life. 

Resolved,  That  this  action  be  communicated  to  Mrs.  Squier, 
with  the  assurance  that  our  sympathies  and  prayers  are  with  her 
in  her  bereavement. 


A  few  days  after  the  date  of  the  above  document,  a 
similai*  one  was  adopted  by  the  Trustees  of  Beloit  Col- 
lege, and  a  copy  of  it  transmitted  to  Mrs.  S. 


Another  tribute  of  deep  respect  and  strong  affection, 
is  presented  in  the  following  communication : — 

Beloit,  Wis.,  July  13th,  1866. 
Mrs.  M.  p.  Sqtjier — Dear  Madam  : — 

At  the  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  Alumni  Association 
OP  Beloit  College,  held  last  Tuesday,  the  following  resolutions 
in  regard  to  the  death  of  our  dear  friend.  Prof.  Squier,  were 
adopted  :  and  read  at  Commencement  dinner : — 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Alumni  of  Beloit  College,  have  learned 
with  profound  sorrow  of  the  recent  death  of  Prof.  M.  P.  Squier, 
and  that  in  view  of  this  sad  event  we  desire  to  record  our  grate- 
ful remembrance  of  his  labors,  prayers  and  large-hearted  liber- 
ality in  behalf  of  Beloit  College. 

Resolved,  That  we  who  were  his  pupils  cherish  the  deepest 
respect  for  his  memory  as  an  able  and  faithful  instructor,  and 
that  we  also  remember  with  the  liveliest  gratitude  and  affection 
the  kindly  courtesy  and  ever  active  friendship  which  his  social 
intercourse  with  us  ever  evinced. 

Resolved,  That  in  his  long  life  of  devotion  to  truth,  in  his  un* 
affected  piety  and  untiring  efforts  in  the  cause  of  general  educa- 
tion and  morality,  he  nobly  illustrated  the  character  of  the  Chris- 
tian gentleman  and  scholar. 


58  CONNECTION   WITH   BELOIT   COLLEGE. 

Resolved,  That  we  extend  to  his  bereaved  wife  the  expres- 
sion of  our  earnest  sjinpathy  in  her  deep  affliction,  while  we  re- 
joice with  her  that  a  peaceful  and  happy  death  closed  so  fittingly 
a  life  filled  with  Christian  faith  and  earnest  labor. 
Very  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  P.  Fitch, 
Sec'y  B.  C.  A.  A.,  Pro  tern. 


To  the  above  minute,  we  take  the  liberty  to  append 
the  following  extract  from  a  touching  private  letter  of 
condolence  to  Mrs.  S.,  ftom  Prof  Porter,  of  the  College, 
bearing  date  of  July  2d,  1866  : — 

"  We  feel,  very  dear  friend,  that  we  too  are  mourners 
with  you.  We  have  lost  a  revered  and  loved  associate, 
and  a  warm-hearted,  sympathizing  friend.  His  personal 
interest  in  each  one  of  us,  his  intelligent  and  earnest 
sympathy  in  our  work,  the  assurance  of  his  prayers  for 
our  success,  all  were  precious  to  us.  And  yet  sm-ely  we 
have  not  lost  these.  Who  can  tell  with  what  interest 
in  this  great  work,  and  with  what  clear  and  enlarged 
perceptions  of  its  relations  to  Christ's  kingdom,  he  may 
even  now  be  bending  over  us.  And  the  memories  of 
what  he  was  will  livie  and  cheer  us  as  long  as  God  may 
spare  us. 

"  You  need  not  the  assurance,  dear  Madam,  of  our  true, 
deejD  sympathy  with  you  in  yom*  great  loss.  He,  who 
has  gone  by  your  side  so  many  years,  the  sharer  of  your 
joys  and  sorrows,  a  part  of  your  very  life,  has  crossed 
the  river,  and  left  you  to  linger  a  little  while  on  this  side. 
He  has  gone  from  your  sight  and  care ;  aiid  yet  he  is  not 
far  away, — -just  on  the  other  side, — and  he  will  wait  for 
you ;  you  will  not  be  long  parted  from  him.     You  will 


CONNECTION   WITH   BELOIT  COLLEGE.  59 

be  lonely,  you  cannot  help  that ;  but  you  will  not  be 
alone.  The  Saviour  will  be  with  you,  with  his  rich  con- 
solations and  love;  the  memories  of  the  dear  departed 
one  will  be  with  you,  precious  and  blessed  memories ; 
and  the  hope  of  the  reunion  soon  on  the  brighter  shore, 
will  not  let  this  life  seem  very  dark ; — will  gather  round 
the  few  steps  you  have  yet  to  take  some  of  the  light 
and  peace  of  the  blue  hills  beyond  the  River." 


60  VISIT  TO   EUHOPE. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

VISIT  TO  EUROPE. 

In  the  summer  of  1861,  Dr.  Squier  made  arrangements 
with  the  late  Dr.  Robert  Baird  for  visiting  Europe,  and 
for  attending  the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance, 
that  was  about  to  be  held  in  Geneva,  Switzerland.  This 
led  him,  while  abroad,  to  study  with  profound  interest 
the  aspects  and  institutions  of  the  old  world.  He  also 
vindicated  in  an  able  and  manly  speech  before  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  the  justice  and  humanity  of  our  late  na- 
tional struggle  with  the  great  Rebellion.  After  his  re- 
turn, he  prepared,  and  read  to  private  circles  of  his 
friends,  several  attractive  and  thoughtful  lectures  upon 
what  he  had  seen  abroad,  and  these  will  be  found  in  sub- 
sequent pages  of  this  volume. 

The  following  extracts  from  his  journal,  together  with 
his  papers  on  "  Geneva  and  the  Evangelical  Alliance,'* 
and  on  "  the  American  Meeting"  there,  will  be  read  not 
without  deep  interest.  He  sailed,  in  company  with  Dr. 
Baird,  on  the  steamship  Fulton,  August  19th,  1861.  In 
his  journal  he  writes  : — 

"  We  had  quite  a  religious  element  on  board,  and  even- 
ing worship  was  attended  daily  in  the  ladies*  cabin. 
Divine  service  also  on  the  Sabbath.  Dr.  B.  preached  on 
the  first  Sabbath  and  I  on  the  second.  It  was  interest- 
ing to  observe  the  progi'ess  of  religious  convictions,  or 


VISIT  TO   EUROPE.  61 

of  the  manifestation  of  them  as  the  voyage  proceeded. 
At  first  but  few  attended  the  daily  service,  and  there 
was  an  easy,  jolly  and  irresponsible  and  careless  look  on 
the  face  of  the  crew,  and  the  passengers,  which  gradually 
changed  to  respect  and  marked  attention  towards  those 
who  had  confessed  themselves  on  board  to  be  the  friends 
and  followers  of  Christ.  The  benevolence  and  grace  of 
some  Christian  young  ladies,  in  their  kind  and  assiduous 
help  to  the  sick  and  suffering,  contributed  greatly  to  this 
result,  and  our  last  Sabbath's  service  was  attended  by  a 
large  share  of  the  passengers,  both  of  the  first  and  of 
the  second  cabin." 

Sept.  5th,  1861,  Geneva,  Switzerland.  "  I  preached  on 
Sabbath  evening  last  for  Rev.  Mr.  Sawtell  in  the  Ameri- 
can Seaman's  Chapel,  at  Havre,  to  a  full  and  attentive 
audience;  felt  much  at  home  in  the  pulpit,  and  hope 
some  serious  impression  was  made.  It  was  communion 
day,  and  I  took  part  in  the  services  at  the  table." 

"A  general  levee  is  attended  every  evening  here,  (in 
Geneva)  during  the  meeting  of  the  Alliance.  I  came 
near  being  a  lion  at  the  one  at  Dr.  Lombard's,  on  Wed- 
nesday evening.  Dr.  Baird  introduced  me  to  Pastor 
Barde,  of  this  place,  as  from  Geneva  in  America.  He 
went  off  in  ecstacy,  took  me  in  his  arms,  kissed  both 
cheeks,  and  called  the  attention  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
to  my  wherefrom,  and  they  came  up  to  me,  file  after  file, 
for  introduction,  and  shaking  of  the  hand.  On  Friday 
evening  was  another  large  levee  in  the  grounds  and  gar- 
dens of  Mr.  Ezzard,  a  wealthy  gentleman — thousands 
present — singing — tea  and  coffee  from  a  long  range  of 


62  VISIT  TO   EUROPE. 

counters — and  preaching  in  different  languages,  from 
different  stands." 

"We  have  a  gi'eat  meeting  here — said  to  be  the  largest 
by  far,  and  has  the  largest  number  of  great  men — pro- 
fessors and  scholars  of  all  nations.  I  have  speculated  a 
little  on  the  various  nationalities,  and  I  think,  from  a 
comparison  all  around,  that  the  German  meeting  this 
P.  M.,  at  the  Oratoire,  presented  the  finest  collection  of 
heads  and  busts,  and  showed  the  most  general  cultiva- 
tion in  appearance.  But,  it  is  as  a  whole  one  of  the 
most  cultivated  assemblies  I  ever  saw.  Everyone  is 
very  polite  and  obliging.  I  have  quite  fallen  in  love 
with  Baptiste  Noel,  of  London,  and  with  Pastor  Fisch, 
of  Paris,  and  with  Sir  Culling  Eardley,  and  other  Eng- 
lishmen. They  all  thank  < us  for  the  statements  and  ex- 
planations made  by  us;  and  they  say  that  these  will 
help  very  much  to  put  the  Christian  mind  of  England 
and  of  the  Continent  right  in  respect  to  the  present 
struggle  in  America.  They  desired  us  to  go  to  England 
and  talk  so  there.  All  here  have  then*  sympathies  with 
the  North,  and  think  that  God  means  a  breach  upon 
slavery." 

"Politics  are  not  much  here,  or  in  Europe  now,  with 
the  great  body  of  educated  men.  There  is  a  more  in- 
tense intellectuality, — they  are  deeper  in  matters  of  sci- 
ence and  religion.  The  general  mind  of  classical,  think- 
ing men  is  more  spiritual,  more  involved  in  the  prob- 
lems of  science — less  practical — ^less  absorbed  in  actual 
things, — they  live  more  in  history  and  have  a  wider 
range  of  intellectual  associations, — they  are  scholars, 
biblicists,  theologians,  authors, — ^with  a  quick  sense  of 


VISIT   TO   EUROPE.  63 

reputation  as  such,  and  many  of  them  living  on  the 
fruits  of  their  works.  I  have  come  in  personal  contact 
with  some  of  them,  but  here  they  are  swarming  by 
thousands, — and  one  only  wants  to  come  to  such  a  con- 
vocation as  this,  to  find  out  that  the  U.  S.  A.  are  not  all 
the  world.  And  yet  I  am  surprised  almost,  at  the  re- 
spect and  tenderness  and  affection  in  which  our  country 
is  held  here,  and  spoken  of  and  prayed  for  by  members 
of  the  Alliance." 

Dr.  Squier  makes  brief  mention  in  his  journal  of  what 
he  saw  in  Italy — in  Turin,  Genoa,  Leghorn  and  Florence. 
He  says : — 

"  I  saw  more  grapes  yesterday  than  in  all  my  life  be- 
fore,— the  country  road-side  full  of  small  trees,  and  each 
with  two  grape-vines  now  hanging  full,  and  just  ready 
for  the  vintage ; — mostly  blue,  some  white." 

Florence,  Sept.  18.  "We  are  at  the  extreme  south 
of  our  proposed  route,  as  the  heat  and  the  malaria 
keep  us  from  visiting  Rome,  judging  in  our  case  that 
discretion  is  as  good  as  valor.  We  have  had  a  good 
view  of  the  great  exhibition,  and  of  the  choicest  gallery 
of  paintings  and  sculpture,  excelling  anything  of  the 
kind  I  have  seen." 

Lyons,  Sept.  23.  "  This  is  a  city  of  400,000  inhab- 
itants— the  second  in  France — very  handsomely  built  on 
the  Rhone  and  Soane,  which  unite  at  its  base,  and  flow 
on  to  the  Mediterranean.  I  have  seen  here  the  palaces 
in  which  two  of  the  Roman  Emperors  were  born.  Be- 
sides, I  have  bought  for  my  wife  one  of  the  best  um- 
brellas in  France,  which  I  shall  borrow  for  a  while  to 
keep  the  rain  off,  so  that  she  may  feel  she  is  protecting 


64  VISIT  TO   EUROPE. 

my  head  henceforth  against  all  the  storms  of  Europe  to 
which  I  may  be  exposed." 

Paris.  "Went  out  to-day  to  the  American  Chapel 
and  saw  a  fine  congregation ;  heard  a  good  sermon  from 
Rev.  Dr.  McClintock  on  the  subject  of  the  American 
War.  Much  sincere  and  fei-vent  prayer,  I  hope,  was  of- 
fered before  and  after  the  sermon.  I  trust  the  day  has 
been  widely  and  faithfully  observed  in  Europe  as  well 
as  in  America ;  and  may  the  Lord  turn  this  War  to  ac- 
count in  the  methods  of  His  redeeming  Providence." 

"  Have  visited  to-day  the  grandest  point  in  Europe 
that  I  have  seen  yet ;  it  is  the  "  Triumphal  Arch^''  on 
one  of  the  great  thoroughfares  of  Paris,  and  two  miles 
west  of  the  Palace  Royal  and  the  Tuilleries.  It  spans 
the  magnificent  highway,  and  is  perhaps  125  feet  high, 
stands  on  an  eminence  somewhat, — is  written  largely 
over  with  the  names  of  victories  and  generals,  &c.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  complete  and  perfect  structures  in 
stone-work  I  ever  saw.  I  ascended  it  to  the  top  by  a 
stone  stau'-case  with  iron  railing,  and  should  think  the 
apex  100  by  70  feet  broad.  There  is  furnished  the  best 
view  of  Paris  and  its  environs  and  country ;  all  now  in 
richest  attire  and  fullest  glory,  just  washed  down  with  a 
shower.  The  main  avenue,  leading  out  from  the  city 
centre  two  miles,  t^v^ce  as  wide  as  Broadway,  and  filled 
with  carriages  under  and  beyond  it,  and  then  eight  other 
streets  dividing  the  circle  and  making  it — the  Arch — 
the  centre ;  and  villas  and  gardens  and  spacious  prom- 
enades on  every  side,  and  les  Monts  Maitre  and  Morency 
and  the  Seine  a  little  in  the  distance,  and  all  the  Palaces 
and  Churches  and  Monuments  of  the  city  under  the  eye. 


VISIT   TO   EUROPE.  65 

Well,  unpoetical  as  I  was,  I  could  not  leave  until  after 
4  P.  M.,  when  the  physical  man  quite  demanded  some- 
thing more  substantial. 

"  Midway  to  the  Arch  we  passed  the  Egyptian  Obelisk, 
70  feet  high,  and  on  a  pedestal  of  30  feet,  all  covered 
over  with  hieroglyphics, — whose  bringing  (the  Obelisk) 
and  whose  raising  were  such  a  triumph  of  science  and 
skill.  There  is  also  JSTapoleon's  Monument  in  Place 
Vendome,  140  feet  in  stone,  with  a  stair-case  inside,  and 
the  whole  column  encased  in  bronze,  with  inscriptions 
of  battles  and  victories,  and  surmounted  by  a  bronze 
statue  of  Napoleon  on  the  top.  A  splendid  band  of 
music  was  playing  at  its  base  as  I  passed,  most  exquisitely. 
The  French  certainly  know  how  to  make  the  most  of 
this  life  by  way  of  the  fine  arts  ;  still  they  have  not  the 
deep,  liquid,  mellow  sky  of  Italy,  nor  its  silken  language ; 
and  have  got  the  way  of  sinning  with  the  least  con- 
science of  almost  any  people." 

Sept.  29,  1861.  Paris.  "  Went  over  to  the  '  Gallery 
of  Paintings'  and  Fine  Arts  in  the  Palace  of  the  Tuil- 
leries,  and  spent  most  of  the  day  there,  and  about  the 
gardens  of  plants  and  flowers  yet  in  full  bloom,  gerani- 
ums and  all.  How  you  would  have  enjoyed  them !  I 
examined  'Les  Champs  Elysees'  more  fully  and  got 
around  to  dine  at  my  restaurant  at  5  P.  M.  Next  day 
examined  the  Royal  Palace  and  L'Hotel  de  Ville,  which 
are  historical  celebrities  and  the  last  a  magnificent  spec- 
imen of  the  fine  arts  in  architecture.  Passed  by  some 
other  monuments  to  that  of  the  Bastile,  dedicated  to  the 
glory  of  France  and  the  citizens  of  Paris,  for  victories, 
&c.  I  took  an  omnibus  and  upon  the  roof  rode  thence 
5 


^  VISIT   TO   EUROPE. 

the  whole  length  of  the  old  Boulevards  of  Paris,  to  the 
Madelaine  church,  some  two  and  a  half  miles,  for  three 
sous.  This  is  cheap  certainly,  you  will  say.  That  church, 
too,  is  one  of  the  finest  in  Paris ;  is  of  Grecian  style  of  arch- 
itectm-e.  At  5  P.  M.  we  went  to  dine  by  invitation  with 
pasteur  Fisch  and  lady  who  had  been  in  America,  and  who 
were  full  of  American  ideas,  where  we  spent  the  even- 
ing very  pleasantly,  getting  back  to  our  Hotel  at  10  P.  M." 
"  Sabbath :  Dr.  B.  preached  at  his  American  Chapel, 
two  or  three  miles  out,  but  I  took  my  Testament  and 
went  to  Notre  Dame,  the  old  cathedral,  and  '  mother  of 
us  all.'  It  is  a  huge  Gothic  pile,  but  the  worship  was 
very  insignificant  and  small,  and  waited  on  but  by  few, 
and  they  quite  of  a  low  and  poor  class.  One  first-class 
Yankee  congregation  is  worth  a  regiment  of  such  ones. 
Romanism,  supported  by  the  state,  must  run  down  be- 
fore increasing  light,  and  then  some  Whitfield  under 
God  will  get  the  people.  I  mounted,  by  stone  stair-case, 
to  the  balcony  and  towers,  250  feet,  and  saw  all  Paris 
again,  from  a  point  two  and  a  half  miles  away  from  the 
Triumphal  Arch.  Finding  a  chair  in  the  tower,  I  sat 
down  and  read  my  Testament,  and  prayed  for  the  city 
under  my  eye,  so  much  given  to  idolatry,  and  for  France 
and  Europe  and  the  world,  not  forgetting  my  own  be- 
loved country  and  friends  and  you,  and  had  quite  a 
meeting  there  in  one  of  the  towers  of  old  Notre  Dame  ; 
and  who  should  meet  me  there  and  then  but  a  young 
friend  who  knew  me  at  Beloit,  a  son  of  Mr.  Walker,  of 
Chicago,  who  now  is  travelling  in  Europe.  So  we  sat 
down  together  for  half  an  hour  and  discoursed  on  the 
things  of  this  and  the  coming  world.     Cut  ofi^  from  the 


VISIT  TO   EUROPE.  67 

privileges  of  social  worship,  I  have  tried  to  keep  my 
thoughts  heaven-ward,  and  to  gain  instruction  from  the 
Sabbath  habits  and  customs  of  the  multitudes  around  me." 

"Monday,  Sept.  30.  Have  to-day,  after  feasting  a 
little  on  the  glories  of  the  Tuillery  Gardens,  taken  a  cab- 
riolet, and  visited  '  Le  Bois  Boulogne,'  a  wide  range  of 
grounds  and  parks  away  beyond  the  Arche  Triomphe, 
and  then  *  L'  Hotel  des  Invalides '  and  the  parks, — then 
the  Pantheon,  and  church  St.  Sulspice,  and  round  to  the 
Bastile,  and,  by  my  favorite  omnibus  ride  to  my  Hotel. 
I  find  myself  invited  to  dine  to-day  with  our  ambassador, 
Mr.  Dayton;  Dr.  Baird,  also,  but  he  is  engaged  else- 
where, and  I  shall  have  to  do  the  honors  of  the  occa- 
sion. To-morrow  we  leave  for  London.  I  hope  there 
to  find  cousin  L.  and  a  letter  from  my  dearest  earthly 
one.  If  both  fail  it  will  be  an  ai'gument  for  looking 
America- wise  before  long." 

Paris,  Tuesday,  Oct.  1 .  "  Had  a  magnificent  time  at 
Ambassador  Dayton's  at  dinner  last  eve,  and  your  hum- 
ble coiTCspondent  was  treated  with  all  due  respect.  Mr. 
D.  requested  me  to  implore  the  Divine  blessing,  and  the 
dinner  went  on  in  true  French  style, — course  after 
course, — soup,  fish,  roast-beef,  chickens,  pudding,  fruit 
with  wines,  claret,  sherry  and  champagne.  Left  table 
about  nine,  and  tea  was  served  about  ten  ;  and  half-past, 
we  walked  two  miles  home.  Dr.  B.  called  for  me.  The 
party  not  lai-ge,  consisting  of  the  family  of  five,  and 
four  or  five  others, — Americans, — and  it  was  quite  re- 
freshing to  hear  and  talk  mother  English." 

"To-day  have  given  the  news-room  at  Monro's  a  long 
visit,  and  then  devoted  the  time  to  the  Palais  d'  Indus- 


68  VISIT  TO   EUROPE. 

trie.     It  has  a  splendid  collection  of  paintings  and  other 
works  of  art ;  has  some  fine  statuary." 

London,  Oct.  3,  1861.  "  Have  pleasant  quarters  in 
Northumberland  street,  close  by  the  Strand  and  Charing 
Cross,  Nelson's  Monument  and  Westminister  Abbey, 
Parliament  House;  but  no  cousin  and  no  letters.  The 
structures  are  massive  and  heavy,  and  the  gi-ounds  less 
ornamental  than  in  Paris,  and  yet  there  is  much  of 
history  and  grandem*  in  them.  The  Thames  is  more  of 
a  river  than  I  supposed,  and  the  bridges  over  it  are  more 
colossal  in  their  architecture.  Saturday  is  the  day  for  a 
free  visit  to  the  Parliament  Houses.  One  might  spend 
a  month  about  London,  as  about  Paris,  but  I  can  see 
from  samples  what  the  whole  means,  and  I  find  riding 
through  this  rich  agricultural  country  at  this  magnificent 
season  of  the  year,  quite  as  interesting  as  the  sight  of 
the  capital." 

Friday,  Oct.  4.  "  Was  at  the  Turkish  Aid  Mission 
Rooms  to-day.  Mr.  Birche  read  me  a  letter  just  re- 
ceived from  Dr.  Dwight  of  Constantinople.  He  has  been 
absent  eight  months  among  the  Missions  in  Turkey  and 
Persia :  is  just  returning  to  America  by  Paris  and  Lon- 
don, with  three  daughters,  and  two  or  three  other  ladies. 

"  Met  our  friend  Rev.  Mr.  Garnet  (colored)  on  the  walk 
to-day.  He  has  come  over  to  enlighten  England  on  the 
American  question. 

"Have  had  a  boat-ride  on  the  Thames  to-day,  and 
had  a  view  of  London  and  other  bridges ;  of  St.  Paul, 
the  Parliament  Houses,  and  of  other  monuments  and 
Bights  too  numerous  to  mention. 

"  I  shall  have  something  to  say  to  my  friends  about 


VISIT   TO   EUROPE.  69 

Europe  when  I  get  back,  though  I  despair  of  seeing  the 
whole,  or  indeed,  very  largely  of  it.  A  few  central 
points  are  enough,  as  marking  the  characteristics  of  the 
diflferent  countries  and  people.  I  shall  have  got  some 
new  ideas  and  experience.  If  I  shall  have  accomplished 
only  the  bringing  out  of  the  American  question  at  Ge- 
neva, and  secm-ed  the  large  and  kind-hearted  response 
of  the  Conference,  and  the  consent  of  view,  and  the 
gush  of  feeling  which  attended  that  matter,  &c.,  it  were 
worth  all  it  has  cost  as  yet." 

London,  Oct.  5.  "I  devoted  the  morning  to  the  Par- 
liament House,  inside  and  out ;  thence  to  the  interior  of 
Westminister  Abbey ;  and  really  in  its  monuments  and 
records  of  the  dead,  royal  and  not  royal,  for  a  thousand 
years  back,  it  exceeds  anything  I  ever  conceived  of. 
This  P.  M.  I  have  been  out  to  St.  James,  Green,  and 
Hyde  Parks,  Buckingham  Palace,  and  the  general  region 
of  the  nobility,  and  really  I  begin  to  feel  that  I  under- 
stand London  like  a  book,  and  may  get  out  of  this  dank 
atmosphere,  and  hie  away  to  Oxford  and  Scotland  the 
first  of  next  week." 

Sabbath,  Oct.  6.  "  I  went  first  to  St.  Paul.  Congrcr 
gation  small,  in  one  nave  of  the  building, — worshipped 
a  little, — looked  at  the  gorgeous  architecture, — arches, 
domes,  statues,  pictures, — and  left  for  Spurgeon's  church. 
Got  there  just  in  time,  and  by  special  favor  was  taken 
by  a  back  way  right  on  to  the  platform  with  the  speaker, 
and  within  fifteen  feet  of  him ;  and  in  front  of  an  au- 
dience of  four  thousand  people,  in  three  tiers ;  heard  all, 
and  was  taken  into  his  private  room  afterward,  and  had 
quite  an  interview  with  him.     He  is  only  twenty-seven 


70  VISIT   TO   EUROPE. 

years  old ;  his  sermon  was  not  great,  but  kind  and  faith- 
ful in  spirit,  and  had  some  fine  passages  in  it.  He  asked 
me  to  come  to  the  communion  in  the  evening,  but  I  told 
him  it  was  too  far  away  from  my  lodgings.  He  is  an 
open  communion  Baptist.  At  3  P.  M.  Dr.  B.  and  I  went 
down  to  the  Westminister  Abbey,  partly  for  the  preach- 
ing, and  partly  for  the  music." 

Oxford,  Oct.  7.  "  Left  London  to-day  at  ten,  and  came 
hither,  over  sixty  miles,  and  have  really  tired  myself 
out  among  the  Colleges,  (nineteen)  and  four  halls  of  a 
higher  grade.  It  is  a  city  of  colleges,  with  magnificent 
foundations,  and  rich  and  ample  arrangements.  One 
must  see  them  to  appreciate  them." 

"  I  have  found  the  gentlemen  of  the  colleges  very  po- 
lite, and  ready  to  show  whatever  I  had  time  or  strength 
to  see.  They  are  about  1,600,  all  told,  and  literaiy  men 
enough  about  in  connection,  to  make  in  all  2,000.  The 
town  exists  mainly  for  them,  and  strangers  are  attracted 
to  it  as  a  literary  centre. 

"  Have  come  through  a  rich  farming  country  to-day, 
up  the  Thames  and  its  tributaries  ;  Reading,  and  other 
towns.  Expect  to  leave  for  the  North  at  9.30  A.  M., 
to-morrow." 

Oxford,  Thursday,  10.  "  Well,  I  overdid  on  Monday, 
and  have  concluded  to  give  up  my  Northern  jaunt,  and 
spend  the  time  more  at  ease  around  here  and  on  the 
way  to  Liverpool,  against  the  time  my  ship  sails.  A 
kind  gentleman,  to  whom  I  had  a  letter  here,  and  who 
resides  a  httle  out  in  the  country,  and  who  loves  Chris- 
tians for  Christ's  sake,  has  benevolently  invited  me  to 


VISIT  TO   EUROPE.  71 

Spend  a  few  days  in  his  family,  and  I  have  consented  to 
stay  till  after  the  Sabbath." 

Friday,  A.  M.  "  I  find  myself  getting  over  my  ill 
turn,  but  think  I  did  well  to  give  up  my  journey  to  the 
North  country,  and  around  about.  The  gentleman,  Jo- 
seph Warne,  Esq.,  is  Postmaster  at  Oxford  ;  has  a  car- 
riage, and  we  have  delightful  drives  in  the  country.  He 
is  in  feeble  health,  and  not  in  much  business,  and  seems 
to  have  taken  quite  a  liking  to  your  honored  spouse. 
We  went  to  the  tailors  yesterday  for  a  suit  of  clothes, 
80  you  may  see  me,  if  I  live  to  get  home  and  we  meet, 
dressed  like  an  Oxford  Professor,  for  I  let  them  have 
their  own  way  about  it.  I  took  a  walk  at  1  P.  M.,  with 
a  son  of  Mr.  W.  to  the  old  parish  church  of  Isling,  one 
and  a  half  miles  away.  It  has  stood  there  ever  since 
the  Norman  conquest  in  the  eleventh  century,  venerable 
and  grotesque.  We  came  home  by  a  lane  along  the 
banks  of  the  Thames." 

"  P.  M.  I  have  been  to  town  to-day  to  visit  some  of 
the  curiosities  not  before  seen.  Among  them  the  Bod'- 
leian  Library  of  500,000  volumes,  and  gallery  of  paintings, 
and  sculpture,  and  models,  and  busts,  and  heads,  and 
full  length  figures  of  all  the  celebrities  of  the  kingdom 
since  the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great,  in  all  their  peculiari- 
ty of  drapery,  of  costume,  &c.,  of  their  respective 
periods.  I  spent  nearly  two  hours  in  the  Gallery.  One 
thing  interested  me  much.  It  was  an  exact  model  ot 
the  Parthenon  at  Athens  in  Greece,  which,  I  found  too, 
was  the  model  of  the  Madelaine  chui'ch  at  Paris,  which 
I  had  much  examined  outside  and  in.     I  went  also  into 


72  VISIT  TO   EUROPB. 

the  Theatre,  (as  they  call  it,)  where  all  the  honorary  de- 
grees of  the  University  are  conferred. 

"  And  now,  as  you  may  see,  my  face  is  fully  set  for 
America  and  home.  I  wish  to  stop  a  little  on  the  way 
to  Liverpool,  and  to  have  some  two  or  three  days  there. 
October  is  said  to  be  a  good  month  to  cross  the  ocean 
in,  but  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  perils  of  the  way.  I 
commit  my  way  to  God,  and  try  to  feel  safe  and  happy 
in  his  hands.  We  are  always  in  danger,  more,  perhaps, 
on  the  water  than  on  the  land.  The  earth  is  hung  out 
upon  nothing,  and  is,  with  all  upon  it,  dependent  upon 
God's  care.  We  cannot  get  beyond  His  promises  or 
His  care.  You  are  praying  for  me  and  committing  me 
to  a  faithful  and  covenant  keeping  God,  and  other  friends 
are,  and  I  trust  to  be  brought  safely  to  you  and  to  do 
something  yet  in  the  cause  of  God,  before  I  go  hence. 
.  I  leave  it,  we  must  leave  it,  we  will* leave  it,  and  rejoice 
to  leave  it  with  Him.  God  has  already  granted  us  a 
long  life,  even  to  the  full  age  of  man.  Many  dear 
ones  have  gone  before  us.  Oh  1  perhaps  you  too  have 
gone  before  me,  and  /,  if  I  should  soon  go  hence,  may 
meet  you  too  among  the  beloved  ones  that  have  gone 
home.  Oh  1  for  the  sweet  visions  of  faith  and  hope. 
Why  not  ?  God  is  good.  He  is  our  Heavenly  Father. 
He  is  reconciled  to  us  in  Christ.  It  is  his  good  pleasure 
to  give  us  the  kingdom.  He  is  not  willing  that  any 
should  perish.  His  heart  is  for  our  salvation.  He  says, 
'  Fear  not,'  and  we  will  leave  our  bodies  and  our  souls 
in  His  hand  and  care,  and  fear  no  evil,  and  confidently 
trust,  and  joyfully  expect,  and  anticipate  that  when  the 
changes  and  chances  of  this  earthly  pilgrimage  are  over. 


VISIT   TO   EUliOPE.  73 

whenever,  wherever,  however,  we  shall  be  gathered, 
thi'ough  riches  of  grace,  to  the  rest  that  remaineth  for 
His  children  on  high." 

"  Oct.  13.  We  dined  by  invitation  at  Abingdon  yes- 
terday, and  had  a  very  intelligent  and  pleasant  visit. 
Met  a  very  pleasant  gentleman  there,  having  the  most 
splendid  and  expensive  Library  I  ever  saw,  and  who 
kindly  spent  most  of  the  P.  M.  in  showing  me  the  curi- 
osities of  it. 

"  To-day  was  Convocation  day  at  Oxford  University 
in  all  its  colleges  and  foundations.  The  heads  of  de- 
partments. Professors,  Masters,  and  Pupils,  more  or  less, 
met  in  St.  Mary's  church  and  listened  to  a  sermon  from 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Pusey,  the  Father  of  Puseyism,  and 
much  known  in  our  countiy.  As  I  was  an  American 
clergyman,  I  was  admitted  among  the  gownsmen,  and 
had  a  good  seat ;  was  much  interested  in  the  discourse, 
which  was  a  full  hour  long.  It  was  really  a  very  labored 
and  able  production."* 

"  Tuesday,  4th.  I  am  now  at  Birmingham,  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  manufactories  and  soot  and  smoke  of 
this  great  centre  of  coal-dust,  iron,  and  the  mechanic 
arts.  I  went  into  Oxford  from  Mr.  W.'s  at  Fair  Acres, 
in  the  morning  of  Monday,  and  was  invited  out  to  tea 
at  Mrs.  Wyat's,  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Warne,  and  met  two 
of  her  sisters,  and  they  talked  to  me  almost  unmerciful-  ( 
ly  about  America.  To-day  I  left  my  friend  at  eleven 
and  came  on  here,  a  little  less  than  half  the  way  to 
Livei-pool.     As  I  have  concluded  to  take  counsel  of 

♦  See  paper  on  "  Rev.  Dr.  Pusey  at  Oxford"  on  a  subsequent  page. 


74  VISIT  TO  EUROPE. 

prudence,  and  reserve  strength  for  the  voyage  home, 
and  have  time  to  linger  on  the  way,  I  divide  up"  the 
route  a  little.  I  have  come  through  a  most  inviting 
country  to-day.  If  all  England  is  like  it,  I  do  not  won- 
der that  the  people  are  proud  of  theii*  agriculture  and 
then*  homes.  There  is  a  peculiar  richness  of  verdure  in 
the  grass,  and  the  trees,  and  hedges.  The  cattle  and 
sheep,  which  are  in  great  abundance,  seem  to  be  up  to 
their  eyes  in  fat  pasture.  Towers  and  church  spires  are 
very  numerous,  and  the  gentle  undulations  of  hill  and 
dale  present  a  very  fine  appearance.  This  place  affords 
but  few  attractions,  so  uniform  and  so  smoky,  I  was  al- 
most Sony  my  ticket  did  not  caiTy  me  farther.  Still 
many  parts  are  well  built  and  any.  I  went  through  the 
market  and  bought  some  little  remembrances  of  it,  and 
am  now  quietly  writing  in  my  apartments  in  the  Stork 
Hotel  on  the  square.  Have  seen  one  fine  old  temple 
here  to-day,  and  walked  in  its  church  yard,  full  of  the 
mementos  of  those  who  have  passed  away.  I  thought 
in  Westminster  Abbey  the  other  day,  Oh !  what  a  his- 
tory and  record  have  all  these,  since  the  date  of  these 
sepulchres,  and  their  habitation  in  the  flesh.  Verily 
England  remembers  the  dead.  France  celebrates  the 
living  and  the  future." 

"I  am  getting  somewhat  animated  in  being  home- 
ward bound,  and  yet,  I  have  some  dread  of  the  sea,  not- 
withstanding our  pleasant  voyage  out.  The  Lord  made 
'  it  and  made  it  to  be  traversed,  I  suppose,  and  we  must 
trust  him  in  its  use.  Taking  all  precautions,  for  good 
craft  and  good  seamen,  we  must  go  down  to  it  in  ships 
and  do  business  in  great  waters,  and  accept  among  the 


VISIT  TO   EUROPE.  75 

changes  and  chances  of  life,  the  perils  the  subject  in- 
volves." 

"Chester,  3  P.  M.  Wednesday.  Left  Birmingham 
at  11  A.  M.,  and  have  had  a  magnificent  ride  of  some- 
thing less  than  100  miles.  Am  now  but  fifteen  miles 
from  Liverpool.  I  took  first-class  car  as  yesterday,  which 
is  vastly  more  convenient,  though  a  little  more  expen- 
sive. I  was  alone  in  the  car  of  six  sittings,  with  none 
to  disturb  me  or  my  surveys  or  musings,  and  must  say 
that  I  think  it  my  best  ride  yet.  I  was  lord  of  the  ma- 
nor and  monarch  of  all  I  surveyed,  and  was  taken, 
doubtless,  for  some  great  one,  as  they  stared  at  me  sit- 
ting in  state  and  alone  in  my  glory.  The  first  thirty 
miles  were  a  succession  of  manufacturing  towns  as  far 
each  way  as  the  eye  could  reach,  with  tall  chimneys 
continually  belching  out  blaze  and  smoke.  Then  suc- 
ceeded about  twenty-five  miles  of  rather  the  handsomest 
farming  land, — Shrewsbury, — and  then  some  not  so 
good,  and  another  range  of  manufactories.  Then  we 
approached  the  border  of  Wales,  and  ran  across  a  corner 
of  it,  and  saw  something  like  mountains ;  though  this 
whole  way  from  London  is  far  more  level  and  chamj^aign 
a  country  than  I  had  supposed.  The  finest,  and  largest, 
and  richest  valley  yet,  opened  upon  us  as  we  crossed 
out  of  Wales  into  Cheshire — famous  for  Cheese — and 
came  down  to  Chester.  I  took  a  carriage  and  rode  over 
the  town  this  P.  M.  to  see  its  celebrities,  such  as  the 
splendid  old  gothic  Cathedral  of  1000  years,  the  old 
walls  of  nearly  equal  antiquity,  the  Castle,  Charles  the 
Second's  Tower,  the  modern  race  course  of  Ten  Brock 
&  Co.     Shall  go  on  to-moiTow  and  fit  up  a  little  for  the 


76  VISIT  TO   EUROPE. 

voyage  home,  and  pray  for  a  good  and  prosperous  pas- 
sage. I  hope  to  hear  from  you  at  Liverpool.  If  I 
should  not,  I  will  still  hope  on  that  all  is  well  with  you, 
and  that  you  are  praying  for  my  safe  and  speedy  return. 
I  begin  now,  as  sight-seeing  is  getting  over  and  I  am 
getting  over  my  breakdown  from  overdoing  at  Oxford 
and  before,  to  meditate  a  little  how  I  shall  make  myself, 
perhaps,  or  the  world,  or  any  pait  of  it,  or  my  friends, 
the  wiser  by  my  visit  to  Em-ope,  should  the  Lord  spare 
me  to  return  and  mingle  again  in  the  accustomed  cu-cles 
of  life." 

"  Liverpool,  October  17th.  This  is,  as  you  would  ex- 
pect, quite  a  matter-of-fact,  business-looking  town.  I 
have  bought  a  map  and  guide  book  of  it,  which  show  it 
to  fail'  advantage.  Some  churches  look  well,  and  I  ex- 
pect to  mount  the  Town  Hall  to-morrow,  from  the  bal- 
cony of  which  a  fine  view  is  said  to  be  given  of  the  city 
and  its  surroundings.  The  most  remarkable  thing  here 
is  doubtless  the  extensive  docks  in  the  Mersey,  a  good 
profile  of  which  is  seen  in  the  map.  I  find  it  depresses 
me  somewhat  not  to  hear  from  you  at  this  point,  and  not 
to  know  anything  recent  about  you.  But  I  know  you 
are  in  Divine  keeping  in  some  world,  and  that  we  shall 
meet  again  somewhere.  I  will  yet  hope  in  this  life,  and 
have  some  yeai*s  of  sojourn  and  comfort  and  progress 
here,  and  to  do  something  yet  for  the  Master.  I  shall 
find  it  better  for  me  to  be  busy,  if  I  can,  and  I  propose 
blocking  out  some  topics,  with  jottings  by  the  way,  that 
I  may  fill  out,  perhaps,  more  fully  afterwards." 

"  Oct.  19th.  At  12  o'clock  to-day  we  bid  good-by  to 
Livei-pool  and  England,  only  that  the  hills  of  Holy 


VISIT  TO   EUROPE.  77 

Head  and  Wales  appear  in  the  east  as  we  are  turning 
away  westerly  for  the  coast  of  Ireland  and  Cork  to-night. 
We  left  in  a  fog,  with  smoke,  and  a  breeze  from  the  east, 
but  it  has  cleared  up  and  the  sun  is  bright  and  cheerful, 
and  the  Irish  Channel  is  smooth  as  a  river.  We  have 
over  one  hundred  passengers  and  quite  a  sprinkling  of 
ladies.  One  gentleman  from  Boston,  with  whom  I 
traveled  from  Paris  to  London,  very  pleasant  and  com- 
panionable. I  find  two  sons  of  Mr.  Stokes,  nephews  of 
Wm.  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York,  aboard,  who  are  very 
pleasant. 

"  Lat.  49,  Lon.  35.  Sabbiath.  It  was  arranged  yes- 
terday to  have  services  to-day  at  eleven,  and  that  I 
should  preach.  The  rules  of  the  company  require  the 
service  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  good  Br.  Gras- 
sette,  Rector  of  the  Cathedral  church,  Toronto,  Canada 
West,  is  to  read  the  service.  At  the  time  the  dining 
cabin  was  filled  and  the  service  read  and  solemn,  and  I 
preached  the  sermon  I  last  did  at  Geneva  to  an  attentive 
and  interested  (as  I  think)  audience,  and  I  hope  a  ben- 
efitted one." 

"  Thursday,  7  P.  M.  To-day  dined  together  for  the 
last  time,  and  it  was  whispered  around  that  there  must 
be  a  speech,  and  all  hands  looked  to  me,  and  so  I  made 
a  few  remarks  on  the  favorable  voyage,  &c.,  and  passed 
to  an  appreciative  sentiment  of  Capt.  Anderson,  his 
officers  and  crew,  and  the  gentlemanly  stewards  by 
whom  we  have  been  seiwed,  and  three  cheers  for  the 
good  old  ship  that  has  brought  us  so  safely  over.  All 
went  ofi"  merrily,  and  the  Captain  made  a  brief  and 
handsome  reply. 


78  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    THE   PRESS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE  PRESS. 

For  several  years  Dr.  Sqiiier  has  been  in  the  habit  of 
sending  an  occasional  article  to  the  American  Biblical 
Repositoiy,  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  the  Presbyterian 
Quarterly  and  Theological  Review,  but  more  frequently 
to  the  New  York  Obsei-ver,  and  the  New  York  Evange- 
list, some  of  which  articles  are  reproduced  in  the  pres- 
ent volume.  Several  were  written  in  the  two  last  named 
journals,  in  vindication  of  the  philosophical  and  theolo- 
gical \'iews  presented  in  "The  Problem  Solved,"  and 
which  display  not  a  little  of  that  profundity  and  acumen 
which  characterize  this  class  of  his  writings.  It  was 
his  intention  to  republish  these  in  a  volume,  with  other 
writings,  but  as  the  same  considerations  and  arguments 
will  be  found  embodied  in  other  portions  of  his  writings^ 
now  being  published,  it  is  thought  best  to  withhold  the 
former,  except  so  much  as  may  be  requu-ed  to  indicate 
the  purpose  and  scope  of  the  volume. 

As  a  writer,  he  is  most  prominently  exhibited  in  the 
volume  entitled  "The  Problem  Solved,  or  Sin  Not  of 
God,"  published  in  1855,  and  in  the  somewhat  larger, 
much  more  popular  and  useful  volume,  entitled  "  Reason 
and  the  Bible,  or  the  Truth  of  Revelation,"  published 
in  1860. 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  79 

The  former  attracted  very  general,  and,  in  some  cases, 
severe  criticism  from  the  religious  press.  No  intelligent 
reader  of  it  will  question  the  statement,  that  it  is  the 
production  of  an  acute,  vigorous  and  profound  thinker — 
an  eminently  original  and  suggestive  work — an  excel- 
lent instrument  of  intellectual  discipline  to  one  who 
shall  attempt  to  sound  its  depths,  and  follow  the  entire 
length  of  its  line  of  argumentation.  There  has  been, 
indeed,  a  question  raised  with  regard  to  the  satisfactori- 
ness,  and  logical  accuracy,  and  conclusiveness  of  the 
work,  and  the  justness  of  the  claim  which  the  title  as- 
sumes to  the  merit  of  having  solved  one  of  the  most 
difficult  problems  that  has  ever  employed  the  ingenuity 
and  vigor  of  the  human  mind. 

For  example,  one  of  the  critics  contends  that  the  sum 
and  substance  of  "The  Problem  Solved"  amounts  to  no 
more  than  the  generally  received  opinion  that  man,  and 
not  God,  is  the  sinner.  The  state  of  the  question  may 
be  learned  from  a  few  extracts  on  each  side.  And,  first 
on  the  side  of  the  critic  in  the  "  N.  Y.  Evangelist,"  as 
follows : — 

"  The  confession  of  Faith  has  solved  the  same  prob- 
lem in  very  explicit  words :  '  God  from  all  eternity  did, 
by  the  most  wise  and  holy  counsel  of  his  own  will,  free- 
ly and  unchangeably  ordain  whatever  comes  to  pass ;  yet 
so  as  thereby  neither  is  God  the  author  of  sin,  nor  is 
violence  offered  to  the  will  of  the  creatm*es,  nor  is  the 
liberty  or  contingency  of  second  causes  taken  away  but 
rather  established.'  This  is  just  what  we  believe.  We 
have  never  supposed  God  to  be  *  the  author  of  sin,'  in 
any  sense  that  implies  criminality,  or  attaches  to  him  its 


80  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    THE   PRESS. 

blameworthiness,  or  makes  it  hii  act  or  moral  state. 
Sin  is  a  phenomenon  in  man,  and  of  him,  and  not  in 
God.  The  confession  of  Faith  holds  this  doctrine ;  the 
Evangelical  pulpit  has  ever  preached  it ;  and  hence,  on 
the  purely  subjective  side  of  the  question,  we  do  not  see 
that  the  author  of  '  The  Problem  Solved'  has  made  any 
new  discovery,  or  stated  any  new  idea.  Who  believes 
that  sin  is  God's  'method'  or  'arrangement'  or  'pre- 
ference,' in  any  sense  that  supposes  Him  to  be  a  par- 
taker in  its  criminality  ?  Nobody  that  has  any  claim  to 
be  a  Christian,  or  to  credit  the  testimony  of  the  Bible. 
There  is  no  such  theory  extant  in  the  church,  or  taught 
in  her  schools  of  theology,  to  be  exploded  by  referring 
sin  to  a  cause  'in  the  finite.'  We  repeat,  man  is  the 
sinner,  and  not  God ;  sin  is  the  state  of  man,  and  not  of 
his  Maker." 

"  This  statement,  however,  so  easily  made,  and  so  gen- 
erally admitted,  does  not  reach  the  real  '  problem,'  with 
which  speculative  theology  has  had  to  grapple  in  respect 
to  the  origin  of  moral  evil.  It  is  merely  a  statement  of 
what  is  true  in  the  subjective — in  man.  It  simply  answers 
the  question.  Who  is  the  sinner  ?  Besides  this,  there  is 
another  question,  emphatically  the  question  which  the 
author  of  'The  Problem  Solved'  has  scarcely  touched, 
and  upon  which  we  do  not  see  that  he  has  thrown  even 
the  first  ray  of  light.  Let  us  state  this  question.  What 
is  the  true  exposition  of  the  fact  that  such  a  being  as 
God  himself,  infinite  in  knowledge,  power,  benevolence 
and  holiness,  has  constructed  a  system  of  existence,  and 
still  upholds  it,  in  which  moral  evil  exists  ?  Why  has 
He  admitted  sin  into  a  system  of  which  He  is  the  sole 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  81 

author  and  supporter,  and  which  therefore  of  necessity 
is  dependent  upon  him?     To  find  sin  'in  the  finite,' 
and  refer  it  to  *the  finite,'  is  no  answer  to  this  question. 
Let  it  be  remembered,  that  this  very  '  finite,'  in  the  ut- 
most comprehensiveness  of  its  being,  faculties,  laws  and 
conditions,  is  the  product  of  the  Infinite ;  that  it  is  not 
a  self-originated,  nor  a  self-sustaining  concern,  but  en- 
tirely dependent  upon  the  God  who  made  it.     How  then 
comes  it  to  pass  that  he  is  the  author  and  supporter  of 
such  a  'finite,'  with  his  eye  upon  its  historic  develop- 
ment in  the  form  of  sin,  so  extensive  and  desolating  as 
experience  and  revelation  abundantly  prove  it  to  be? 
Let  this   'problem'  in  the  'objective'  be  'solved'  by 
some  theory,  proved  to  have  its  positive  verity  in  the 
mind  of  God,  and  then  we  shall  know  something  about 
the  subject.     Beyond  all  debate,  there  is  just  such  a 
question  that  may  be  started.     Let  any  one  think  what 
God  is,  and  what  are  his  necessary  relations  to  the  uni- 
verse, and  what  man  is  in  the  actual  manifestations  of 
his  character,  and  he  can  hardly  fail  to  meet  the  inquiry. 
It  will  dawn  upon  him  in  spite  of  himself;   and  we  are 
sorry  that  the  author  of  '  The  Problem  Solved'  did  not 
•face  the  real  issue,  that  has  so  long  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  theologians.     Had  he  done  this,  he  would  prob- 
ably have  needed  many  more  chapters  and  pages,  before 
announcing  the    'Problem'   as    'solved.'      We  do  not 
object  to  the  psychology  or  theology  that  makes  man 
the  sinner ;  let  the  proposition  be  proved,  we  care  not 
how  strongly;  but  to  offer  this  as  an  explanation  of  sin 
considered  as  an  event  in  the  moral  government  of  God, 
is  simply  dodging  the  whole  difficulty." 
6 


82  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    THE    PRESS. 

"  For  ourselves,  we  must  say  that  we  have  no  theory 
on  this  subject  to  present,  and  therefore  none  to  defend. 
We  have  never  yet  solved  *the  problem;*  and  judging 
from  our  own  experience,  as  well  as  from  the  efforts  of 
others,  we  expect  to  die,  leaving  this  as  one  of  the  se- 
crets that  *  belong  unto  the  Lord  om*  God.*  That  man 
is  a  sinner,  we  have  no  doubt ;  nor  do  we  doubt  whether 
there  be  a  God — a  great  causal  and  governing  *  Spirit, 
infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable  in  His  t)eing,  wisdom, 
power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth.*  These  per- 
fections of  the  Supreme  Being  we  always  assume  as 
sufficiently  proved,  and  therefore  never  to  be  called  in 
question.  What  such  a  God  would  do,  we  cannot  tell 
a  priori,  by  simply  reasoning  from  his  attributes.  We 
cannot  tell  what  kind  of  a  world  he  would  make,  under 
what  circumstances  he  would  place  moral  agents,  or 
whether  sin  would  be  in  or  out  of  a  system  originating 
from  his  creative  power." 

To  the  above  extracts,  the  author  of  "  The  Problem 
Solved"  replies,  in  part,  as  follows  : — 

"  It  is  no  part  of  my  object  to  attempt,  for  the  thou- 
sandth time,  to  frame  excuses  for  God*s  introducing  sin 
into  his  plan  for  a  universe,  but  to  deny  that  he  has  it 
there  at  all,  and  to  give  my  reasons  for  this  position ; 
not  to  reiterate  the  common  belief,  with  my  reviewer, 
that  *  God  is  not  the  author  of  sin,  in  any  sense  that  im- 
plies criminality,  or  attaches  to  him  its  blameworthiness,* 
but  that  He  is  so  in  no  sense  whatever ;  that  sin  is  no 
part  of  his  economy,  and  lies  no  way  in  his  plan,  method 
or  primordial  arrangement  for  the  universe ;  that  it  is  in 
no  sense  of  his  proposition  or  an  integrant  in  his  meth- 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  83 

od,  and  that  he  sustains  no  relation  to  it,  either  in  a 
scheme  of  things  or  an  actuality  which  is  not  aside 
from  it,  and  contrary  and  antagonistic  to  it ;  that  it  is 
not  here  by  his  decree  or  permission,  but  with  the  con- 
sent of  neither,  and  that  he  is  taking  the  best  methods 
against  it  in  probation  and  retribution.  And  this  I  at- 
tempt to  establish  by  the  first  truths  of  reason  and  the 
Bible  in  view  of  the  attributes  of  moral  government,  as 
well  as  of  the  moral  convictions,  and  the  teachings  of 
common  sense.  Does  my  reviewer  hold  thus,  and  so 
agree  with  me,  and  is  this  the  common  doctrine  ?  If  so, 
I  much  rejoice  at  it,  as  it  shows  at  least  the  possibility 
of  light,  on  the  subject  of  the  Divine  relations  to  wrong, 
and  of  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  sin,  on  principles 
consistent  with  honor  and  right  in  the  Deity." 

"  The  passage  quoted  in  the  review  from  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  is  doubtless  built  on  the  following  pas- 
sage of  the  Bible : — *  Who  worketh  all  things  after  the 
counsel  of  His  own  will,*  which  is  the  same  as  to  say 
that  God  acts  from  the  resources  of  His  own  intelligence, 
does  all  His  works  from  the  necessary  perfections  and 
sufficiency  of  His  own  being.  And  if  the  Confession  of 
Faith  agrees  with  its  authority,  it  does  not  include  sin 
among  the  things  ordained  of  God,  as  it  is  no  work  of 
His.  The  purposes  of  a  being  primarily  respect  his 
own  acts,  and  is  the  mental  condition  of  them.  All- sin 
lies  in  a  purpose.  It  is  not  a  thing,  an  effect  or  event 
properly,  but  is  an  attitude  or  state  of  the  will.  It  inheres 
in  a  cause;  and  is  by  limitation  precluded  from  be- 
ing the  purpose  of  the  Infinite.  And  if  this  is  the 
sense  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  at  this  point,  I  am 


84  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    THE   PRESS. 

happy  in  a  cordial  assent  to  it,  and  to  all  its  correlates. 
I  do  but  affirm  that  sin  is  without  the  decree  or  aiTange- 
ment  of  God  for  it,  in  any  sense ;  that  it  is  no  part  of 
His  scheme  of  things  ;  that  He  meets  it  as  he  finds  it, 
in  the  method  and  agency  of  others  than  Himself,  in  the 
way  of  a  pure  and  unyielding  antagonism,  as  infinite 
wisdom  dictates,  and  gloriously  as  the  end  will  show ; 
that  the  account  of  the  introduction  of  sin  in  Genesis, 
is  legitimate  and  appreciable  ;  that  the  prohibition  there 
given  is  the  exponent  of  the  whole  will  of  God  in  the 
"premises,  and  that  it  is  checkmated  by  no  'decretive 
will,'  or  primordial  arrangement  of  God,  antagonizing 
and  discrepant  therewith,  and  which  would  be  a  dogma, 
that  would  show  the  sin  of  man,  on  the  last  analysis,  to 
meet  the  mind  of  God,  and  be  His  own  perfect  way  in 
the  moral  sphere,  and  which  has  been  the  dogma  which 
has  created  all  the  difficulties  in  the  common  theology  at 
this  point.  Does  the  reviewer  agree  with  me  here,  and 
does  the  Confession  of  Faith  but  corroborate  these  views 
— then  surely  I  ought  to  be  content." 

"  When  the  reviewer  has  thus  disposed  of  the  book 
as  mere  common  place  in  his  view,  and  as  eddying  in 
the  vortex  of  all  received  opinions,  he  sinks  to  a  deeper 
level  of  truth,  and  strikes  into  the  real  theological  ques- 
tion and  difficulty  to  which  the  book  relates,  and  con- 
cerning which  it  treats.  But  he  does  this  de  novo,  as  a 
superadded  thought  of  his  own,  and  as  quite  beyond  the 
depth  of  the  book  or  the  conception  of  its  author.  I 
may  surprise  him  if  I  say,  he  has  now  just  reached  the 
precincts  of  our  subject,  and  got  to  the  point  in  hand. 
The  question  is  on  the  real  relations  of  God  to  an  econ- 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS,  85 

omy  of  sin  and  wrong ;  and  whether  he  has  ordained 
such  an  economy  at  all,  or  whether  it  is  here  without  him, 
or  his  proposition  of  it  in  a  scheme  of  things^ — is  here 
as  the  method  and  scheme  of  another,  and  in  every 
sense  against  the  will  of  God.  This  is  the  subject  mat- 
ter of  the  book,  as  an  ultimate  truth.  It  lies  just  here. 
There  is  not  a  sentence  in  it  that  is  not  designed  to  bear 
on  this  point,  and  in  some  way  to  illustrate  and  familiar- 
ize the  mind  to  the  necessary  truths  of  reason  and  the 
Bible  which  determine  it.  The  question  is  merely  one 
of  fact,  whether  sin  has  its  proposition  in  the  plan  of 
God,  or  must  find  it  elsewhere.  The  reviewer  assumes 
that  it  is  of  God,  and  then  assumes  that  God  is  good  not- 
withstanding. He  says  that  he  '  has  no  theory  to  pre- 
sent on  the  subject.'  But  indeed  he  has,  and  has  pre- 
sented it,  and  takes  more  than  the  last  half  of  his  arti- 
cle in  stating  and  adjusting  that  theory,  so  that  it  shall 
be  as  little  offensive  as  may  be  to  the  terms  of  reason 
and  the  moral  sense.  He  does  hold  that  God  is  the 
author  of  sin,  in  the  sense  of  proposing  and  ordaining 
it  in  a  scheme  of  things ;  that  it  is  His  way  of  the  Uni- 
verse ;  that  there  is  just  as  much  sin  and  wrong  in  earth 
and  hell,  as  much  infraction  of  His  law  and  resistance  of 
His  will,  as  He  has  ordained,  as  lies  in  His  plan,  and  as, 
on  the  last  analysis  of  the  thought,  God  would  have  ; 
and  then  seeks  to  quiet  the  conscience  by  the  quotation, 
*Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight.' 
Yes,  this  is  his  theory;  and  so  insci*utable  does  it  appear 
to  him,  that  he  does  not  attempt  to  give  a  reason  for  it, 
and  he  thinks  no  man  will  be  able  to.  In  this  I  certain- 
ly agree  with  him,  and  fully  believe  it  will  be  forever 


86  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS. 

beyond  the  ken  of  man  or  angel  to  appreciate  such  a 
dogma,  or  holding  to  it,  to  vindicate  the  ways  of  God 
to  the  intelligence  he  has  given  us.  This  is  the  re- 
viewer's theory,  and  he  shows  quite  the  ordinary  adroit- 
ness in  using  all  the  common  methods  of  speech,  in 
trying  to  render  it  acceptable,  and  in  parrying  the 
assaults  of  reason  and  our  necessary  laws  of  belief  upon 
it.  But  what  is  more  to  the  point,  he  insists  that  it  is 
my  theory  too,  and  that  I  ought  to  have  written  a  larger 
book  to  make  it  plain.  Now,  I  shall  do  no  such  thing. 
That  is  the  dogma  which  has  held  the  Evangelical 
Church  spell-bound  in  the  antinomianism  of  centuries, 
and  long  enough  already.  I  do  not  hold  it ;  I  repudiate 
it,  as  I  would  every  method  of  foisting  '  the  works  of  the 
devil'  into  the  plan  of  God,  and  making  them  ingredients 
in  the  perfect  methods  and  ways  of  the  Infinite.  My 
book  is  on  the  other  side,  and  in  my  judgment,  is  large 
enough  to  contain  the  principles  of  the  belief  I  entertain 
in  this  matter.  It  is  my  reviewer,  and  not  myself,  who 
believes  that  sinning  is  fulfilling  the  decrees  of  God. 
Let  him  prove  the  fact,  that  all  the  wickedness  in  crea- 
tion is  ordained  of  God,  and  exists  by  His  permission 
and  consent,  before  he  troubles  himself  more  about  the 
theory  of  such  a  fact,  or  the  impossible  reasons  for  it,  or 
resorts  to  further  disclaimers  and  abnegations,  to  ward 
off  the  blows  of  skepticism  not  only,  but  to  repress  the 
inevitable  verities  of  the  human  mind.  I  hold  the  dog- 
ma to  be  a  needless  assumption  and  an  obvious  logical 
fallacy.  I  do  not  believe  that  sin  exists  through  Divine 
ordination  and  consent.  It  is  the  inherent  liability  of  a 
moral  system,  but  no  part  of  the  economy  of  God.     It 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  87 

is  the  abuse  of  a  moral  system,  and  not  a  part  of  it,  or 
the  fulfillment  of  the  design  of  its  author.  It  is  through 
another  economy  than  that  of  God,  and  from  another 
quarter.  '  It  is  impossible  but  that  ofienses'  may  *  come,' 
as  it  is  true  that  they  have  and  do ;  but  when  they  do 
come,  it  is  through  the  aberrations  of  finite  cause,  in 
which  aberrations  is  nothing  of  God.  They  may  plead 
no  Divine  decree  or  arrangement  in  their  behalf,  and  no 
Divine  proposition  or  consent  in  their  being.  God's 
relations  to  sin  are  all  on  the  other  side,  and  are  unique 
and  characteristic  of  Himself,  and  in  the  line  of  all  true 
virtue,  and  may  be  comprehensively  appreciated  and 
understood;  and  happy  will  it  be,  when  the  enigmas 
which  a  false  philosophy  has  wi'ought  into  this  subject 
shall  be  discarded,  and  men  shall  be  allowed  to  look  at  it 
in  the  simple  concrete  of  its  appreciable  truth.  But  I 
need  not  reiterate  what,  with  more  completeness,  the 
wort  reviewed  has  said." 

TVe  make  a  few  more  quotations  in  the  form  of  crit- 
icisn:  upon  "  The  Problem  Solved,"  that  will  convey,  to 
those  who  have  not  read  the  volume,  the  general  impres- 
sion which  the  work  has  produced  upon  intelligent 
minds.     The  first  is  from  the  "  New  York  Observer :" — 

"  Ai  earnest  and  honest  effort  to  achieve  an  impos- 
sibility The  result  is  of  course.  The  able  author  re- 
jects tie  Beecher  theory  of  original  sin  on  the  one 
hand,  ind  the  Princeton  view  on  the  other,  and  then 
proposhg  a  third  scheme,  his  own,  he  considers  the 
Problen  Solved.  We  admu*e  his  spirit,  we  respect  his 
learning,  we  believe  in  his  integrity,  but  we  do  not  see 
througl  his  solution  of  the  great  question.     He  pro- 


88  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS. 

nounces  *  sin  a  method  in  the  finite.'  *  Moral  evil,  both 
as  a  method  and  a  fact,  is  fully  accounted  for  In  finite 
cause.  Sin  is  possible  only  in  the  finite,  and  through 
apostasy  there.'  But  when  we  ask  why  God  did  not 
prevent  finite  creatures  from  sinning,  we  get  no  answer 
jfrom  our  author  which  we  have  not  had  before.  We 
commend  the  study  of  the  book  to  those  who  are  in- 
clined to  investigate  this  subject.  It  has  many  great 
truths,  well  put.  It  exposes  several  popular  theological 
errors,  cuts  them  up  root  and  branch,  and  lays  a  good 
foundation  for  further  discussion.  Perhaps  others  w.^h 
clearer  intellect  than  ours  will  get  light  from  the  author's 
theory.  We  speak  of  its  efiect  on  our  own  mind.  It 
does  not  help  us  out  of  the  dark ;  others  may  be  re- 
lieved." 

The  second  is  from  the  "  Journal  of  Health,"  ard  is 
attributed  to  the  Rev.  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.: — 

"  This  is  a  discriminating  and  thoughtful  book  Dn  a 
difficult  subject.  It  is  destined  to  make  its  mark  oa  the 
age.  It  takes  the  bold  position  that  God  has  not  htro- 
duced  sin  into  the  world  as  a  means  to  an  end,  ror  in 
any  proper  sense  willed  its  existence.  It  maintaiiB  that 
God  can  make  and  has  made  moral  agents — ^beiig  so 
constituted  that  they  are  under  no  necessity  to  sp.  A 
moral  agent  '  can  will  anything,  and  if  he  does  n»t,  it  is 
for  other  reasons  than  a  want  of  power.'  '  No  int<lHgent 
agent  was  ever  placed  where  he  could  not  do  rigit.'  It 
affirms  that  the  Deity  can  so  endow  a  creature  that  he 
shall  become  as  truly  a  cause  as  God  Himself,  ^d  that 
from  the  very  nature  of  moral  agency,  when  me^  volun- 
tarily do  wrong,  they  choose  it  under  a  full  cofiscious- 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THF.   PRESS.  89 

ness  that  they  have  the  power  to  make  an  opposite 
choice.  The  questions  raised  are  not  the  same  as  those 
which  gave  sharpness  to  the  controversies  of  Calvin, 
Arminius,  Pascal,  Toplady,  Wesley,  and  Edwards.  Dr. 
Squier  is  a  profound  and  acute  thinker.  We  have  known 
him  and  his  modes  of  thought  for  thirty  years  past ;  but 
he  has  not  written  much,  and  we  had  no  idea  that  he 
could  have  produced  such  a  book.  We  commend  it  to 
all  young  theologians." 


Respecting  the  high  merit,  value,  and  useful  tendency 
of  the  other  work — "  Reason  and  the  Bible,"  there  has 
been  a  remarkable  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  period- 
ical press,  and  it  gives  great  pleasure  to  introduce  here 
some  of  the  expressions  of  sentiment  concerning  it  which 
the  press  has  uttered,  only  premising  that  no  notice 
seems  to  have  been  taken  of  a  remarkable  peculiarity  of 
Dr.  Squier's  style,  reminding  one  of  the  Rhone,  which 
is  of  a  clear  blue  color  on  issuing  from  the  Lake  of  Ge- 
neva, but  is  changed  to  brown  by  the  accession  of  the 
Arve,  a  muddy  stream  which  flows  into  it  near  the 
town  of  Geneva.  Nothing  can  be  desu'ed  more  clear, 
strong,  beautiful  and  terse,  than  large  portions  of  this 
book,  but  ever  and  anon  the  author's  special  fondness 
for  abstruse,  obscure,  self-invented,  and  peculiar  forms 
of  expression,  tempts  him  unfortunately  to  let,  at  short 
intervals,  the  muddy  Arve  into  the  pellucid  Rhone,  and 
we  then  can  see  but  little  below  the  surface.  This  alter- 
nation of  clearness  and  obscurity,  of  the  best  language 
of  common  life  with  the  strange,  and  at  times,  almost 
unintelligible  language  of  a  recondite  philosophy,  is  a 


90  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    THE   PRESS. 

very  serious  objection  to  the  book  for  popular  use,  and 
for  the  highest  practical  value.  If  these  obscure  por- 
tions were  modified,  or  even  eliminated,  or  passed  over, 
it  would  form  an  admirable  text  book  in  schools  and 
colleges,  and  better  adapted  perhaps  than  Butler's 
Analogy  to  the  greater  number  of  those  to  whom  the 
study  of  the  latter  is  usually  assigned. 

The  following  are  the  sentiments  expressed  by  some 
of  our  most  intelligent  and  reliable  periodicals : — 

*'Dr.  Sqrier  is  a  clear  and  vigorous  writer.  There  is 
something  refreshing  in  this  style  of  writing.  There  is 
a  philosophic  method  to  be  employed  in  religious  truth, 
and  we  regard  Dr.  S.'s  philosophy  of  the  intelligence  as 
cause,  and  of  moral  evil  as  an  apostasy  of  will,  as  far 
more  rational  and  scriptural  than  the  speculations  of 
those  who  denounce  the  use  of  reason  in  theology  and 
lamentably  betray  the  want  of  it." — W.  Y.  Independent. 

"  We  are  free  to  recommend  this  able  treatise  to  the 
regards  of  intelligent  readers,  <fec.  It  treats  its  subject 
with  a  precision,  clearness,  and  force  of  thought  and 
expression,  that  is  worthy  of  sincere  admiration.  The 
work  of  Dr.  Squier  is  creditable  to  his  pen  and  his  heart, 
and  will,  we  have  no  doubt,  do  much  good." — Christian 
Intelligencer. 

"It  is  a  most  important  undertaking,  to  attempt  to 
prove  that  the  Bible  and  its  doctrines  are  reasonable — 
are  just  what  reason  demands  that  they  should  be  for 
man's  wants.  That  Dr.  Squier  has  attempted  this  should 
earn  for  him  our  gratitude.  That  he  has  succeeded  so 
well  demands  our  respect.     The  closing  chapter  on  the 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  91 

relations  of  moral  evil,  suggests  an  important  view  of  that 
vexed  question." — Congregationalist  {Boston.) 

"  Dr.  Squier  is  an  earnest  student'  of  some  of  the 
highest  subjects  of  religion  and  philosophy.  The  rela- 
tions of  faith  and  reason  are  the  central  topics  of  his 
investigations.  That  reason  leads  to  faith  is  the  key- 
note to  Viis  instructive  volume.  The  tone  and  spirit  in 
which  the  subject  is  discussed  are  worthy  of  all  praise 
and  imitation." — American  Theological  Review  {N.  Y.) 

"  The  work  is  able  and  attractive ;  often  it  is  compre- 
hensive and  eloquent.  We  wish  it  the  success  and  in- 
fluence to  which  its  manifest  excellence  entitles  it." — 
New  Englander. 

"Christian  philosophers  will  read  this  well-digested 
book  with  interest  and  profit,  and  find  it  rich  in  sugges- 
tive thought." — Eclectic  Magazine. 

An  interesting  analysis  and  criticism  of  the  work  is 
given  in  the  United  States  Journal,  as  follows : — 

"  If  the  reader  takes  up  this  book  with  the  impression 
that  the  entertainment  to  which  he  is  therein  invited  is 
a  mere  rehash  of  the  common  arguments  in  support  of 
the  truth  of  Divine  Revelation,  drawn  from  the  analo- 
gies of  natm*e,  from  tradition  and  historic  authorities, 
the  first  page  he  reads  will  convince  him  he  has  made  a 
mistake.  If  his  intention  in  looking  into  it  be  either  to 
gratify  an  idle  curiosity  or  to  while  away  an  idle  hour, 
he  will  quickly  discover  that  this  work  has  been  written 
for  readers  who  are  wide  awake,  and  willing  to  '  gird 
themselves'  to  grapple  with  great  truths.  The  author 
sends  his  sounding  line  a  long  way  below  those  surface 


92 


CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    THE    PRESS. 


cun-ents  of  thought  which  may  indeed  float  the  almost 
Christian  '  very  certainly  into  the  quiet  harbor  of  an  as- 
sured faith,'  but  which  are  powerless  to  disturb  the  dark 
depths  of  skepticism  and  infidelity  which  lie  below  them. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  di-aw  from  nature  and  history  weap- 
ons wherewith  easily  to  rout  the  skirmishers  on  the 
outposts  of  the  current  infidelity  of  the  diiy.  But 
routed  here,  skepticism  retreats  into  its  citadel  of  blank 
negation — beyond  the  reach  of  such  weapons.  It  boldly 
denies  the  validity  of  what  is  called  nature,  and  indeed 
all  objective  phenomena,  to  prove  the  authenticity  of  a 
Divine  Revelation  or  any  thing  else,  and  thus  takes 
away  all  common  ground  on  which  even  to  initiate  in- 
vestigation. Before,  therefore,  it  can  be  even  grappled 
with,  it  must  be  pursued  to  its  retreats,  behind  nature 
and  the  objective,  into  the  arena  of  consciousness  and 
those  intuitions  of  the  intelligence  which  the  objector 
can  not  deny,  without  first  denying  his  own  existence. 
And  it  is  this  which  Dr.  Squier,  in  the  volume  before  us, 
has  undertaken  to  do.  He  meets  the  objector  upon  his 
own  ground.  Starting  with  those  truths  which  are  re- 
cognized in  the  light  of  reason  as  absolute  and  necessary, 
he  aims  to  show  the  essential  harmony  between  them 
and  the  Bible,  and  thus  compel  the  assent  of  the  under- 
standing to  the  position  that  the  author  of  the  human 
soul  must  also  be  the  author  of  the  Bible.  Having 
reached  the  sanctuary  of  the  Divinity  by  this  method, 
he  comes  back,  and  proceeding  outwards  from  this  cen- 
tral starting  point,  leads  the  objector  with  the  open 
Bible  in  his  hands,  through  the  domain  of  nature  up  to 
*  nature's  God,'  and  finds  in  all  the  way  the  same  essen- 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  93 

tial  harmony  throughout ;  thus  realiziug  to  the  senses, 
as  he  has  already  demonstrated  to  the  reason,  the  solid 
ground  in  which  to  fasten  the  '  sure  anchor  of  hope,' — 
the  in-isistible  conviction  that  the  Divine  Being  has  in 
fact  made  a  revelation  of  himself  to  men,  and  that  the 
Christian's  Bible  contains  that  revelation.  Dr.  Squier  is 
a  vigorous,  stalwart  thinker,  and  a  terse  and  graphic 
writer.  He  is  fearless,  and  evidently  true  to  himself  in 
the  enunciation  of  his  thoughts,  and  though  not  led  by 
his  convictions  beyond  the  pale  of  evangelical  orthodoxy 
with  regard  to  any  essential  tenets  of  f^ith,  still  it  is 
evident  that  reverence  for  creeds  or  ecclesiastical  pre- 
scriptions exerts  upon  him  but  little  restraining  influence. 
The  clearness  with  which  he  apprehends  the  truth  of  his 
own  views  induces'  a  positiveness  of  statement  which 
may  at  first  sight  look  something  like  dogmatism,  but  on 
farther  acquaintance  we  discover  that  it  results  from  an 
apparent  unconsciousness  that  candid  and  intelligent 
minds  can  disagree  with  him.  Such  earnestness  of  con- 
viction is  delightful,  and  if  his  readers  can  not  always 
agree,  they  "will  not  be  disposed  to  quarrel  with  him. 
His  chapter  on  the  '  Philosophic  Method,'  is  an  admirable 
piece  of  reasoning,  and  will  be  read  by  all  intelligent 
persons  with  profit  and  pleasure.  We  commend  this 
volume  especially  to  two  classes,  namely,  those  who  re- 
ject the  Bible  and  feel  safe  in  the  rejection,  and  those 
who  accept  it,  but  are  troubled  with  doubts." 

The  character  and  the  value  of  "Reason  and  the 
Bible"  may  be  understood  in  part  from  a  few  quotations 
which  are  here  subjoined.     At  the  close  of  the  chapter 


94  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO   THE    PRESS. 

on  "  God  in  Reason,"  the  author  makes  these  two  prac- 
tical reflections : — 

"  First.  The  conviction  that  the  being  of  God  is  an 
apprehension  of  the  reason,  direct,  intuitive,  and  neces- 
sary, gives  vitality  to  that  sense  of  His  presence  at  all 
times  which  religion  teaches.  TVe  run  not  after  the  idea 
through  lengthened  processes  of  argument,  nor  find  it 
suspended  at  the  end  of  a  complex  demonstration,  nor 
as  can  be  only  approximated  there  ;  but  like  the  prophet 
of  Israel,  we  are  enabled  to  say,  *  Now  I  behold  thee, 
and  mine  eye  seeth  thee.'  The  idea  of  God  becomes 
not  so  much  an  interence  as  a  vision  of  the  intellect, — 
not  so  properly  a  deductive  conclusion,  as  an  ever- 
present  knowledge.  We  see  Him,  and  do  know  Him. 
Anywhere  and  everywhere,  '  the  invisible  things  of  Him 
from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being 
understood  (apprehended)  by  the  things  that  are  made, 
even  His  eternal  power  and  God-head.'  The  ideas  of 
the  reason,  then,  not  only  comprehend  the  declarations 
of  the  Bible  at  this  point,  but  coalesce  with  the  songs 
of  poetry,  and  find  rocks,  hills,  and  vales,  vocal  with 
praise  to  Him,  who  is  the  Creator  and  Lord  of  all. 

"  Second.  Its  advantage  in  prayer.  There  is  an  ap- 
positeness  in  addressing  God,  if  he  has  thus  put  Himself 
in  communication  with  us.  If  reason  apprehends  Him, 
— if  our  intelligence  beholds  Him, — if  it  comprehends 
His  being,  and  sees  intuitively  and  perfectly  that  it  can- 
not but  be  that  He  is,  and  is  the  infinitely  perfect,  pres- 
ent Jehovah  ; — how  correlative, — how  connatural  is 
prayer, — how  lifelike  our  approaches  unto  God,— our 
adoration  of  Him, — our  confession  of  sins  in  His  ear, — 


CONTMBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  95 

our  imploring  of  forgiveness, — our  acknowledgment  of 
His  goodness,  and  the  commitment  of  our  interests  and 
ourselves  into  His  hands.  There  is  a  vitality  and  nat- 
uralness,— a  nearness  and  communion  in  this,  that  is  all 
its  own.  There  is  a  vividness  and  reality  concerning 
the  being  of  God,  found  here,  which  is  well  worthy  of 
the  effort  after  those  higher  analyses  of  our  spiritual 
being,  which  our  subject  imposes,  and  which  will  give  it. 
May  we,  then,  covet  this  conviction  of  God  in  the  Reason, 
— this  vision  and  knowledge  of  Him,  as  there  declared, 
and,  like  the  solid  granite  of  nature,  may  it  underlie  all 
the  processes  and  superpositions  which  we  have  yet  to 
lay  upon  it." 

Upon  the  Bible  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
•dead,  the  author  thus  presents  in  striking  and  beautiful 
language  the  analogies  of  nature  in  support  of  it : — 

"  Of  the  power  of  God  '  to  raise  the  dead,'  none  can 
doubt.  We  are  surrounded  with  too  many  magnificent 
displays  of  His  omnipotent  energy  and  wisdom,  in  the 
actual  economy  of  the  universe,  to  question  that  any 
new  modification  of  it,  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the 
future,  is  equally  within  His  pleasure  and  convenience." 

"Does,  then,  the  present  disclose  any  analogies  of 
the  future  on  this  subject  f 

"  I  discern  something  like  it  in  the  annual  death  and 
reviviscence  of  nature  around  us,  in  most  of  the  lati- 
tudes of  the  earth.  The  leaves  of  autumn  fall  thick  on 
eveiy  hand.  The  denuded  forest  looks  drear  and  life- 
less, except  that  here  and  there  an  evergreen  bespeaks 
an  immortality.  The  currents  of  vegetable  life  are 
stopped, — the  earth  is  locked  up  in  frost, — the  pall  of 


96  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    THE   PRESS. 

death  is  thrown  over  it,  and  stern  winter  reigns  in  reck- 
lessness and  desolation." 

'•  But  on  this  scene  how  joyously  looks  out  the  young 
and  buoyant  spring !  All  nature  revives  again.  Forest 
and  field  are  clothed  with  verdure  and  freshness  ;  '  The 
flowers  appear  on  the  earth ;  the  time  of  the  singing  of 
birds  is  come,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard  in  the 
land.'  'Man  goeth  to  his  labor  till  the  evening,'  and 
another  cycle  of  activity  and  production  revisits  the 
earth." 

"  There  is  in  the  planting  of  seed  in  the  ground,  and 
its  reviving  again,  an  analogy  so  striking  and  so  illus- 
trative of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  resuiTCCtion, 
that  it  secured  the  regard  of  the  Apostle,  in  the  annun- 
ciation of  that  doctrine.  *That  which  thou  sowest  is 
not  quickened  except  it  die;'  'Thou  sowest  not  the 
body  which  shall  be.'  The  husbandmen  throws  broad- 
cast into  his  prepared  field,  the  naked  seed — brings  the 
earth  over  it,  and  buries  it  from  his  sight.  The  rains  of 
heaven  fall  upon  it,  and  after  a  time,  a  tender  green 
spire  shoots  up  through  the  overlying  mould.  You 
search  for  its  som-ce,  and  the  kernel  of  wheat  is  not 
there.  But  a  new  life  was  in  it,  when  planted  in  the 
ground.  That  life  has  been  developed,  and  the  stem 
and  roots  have  shot  forth.  There  is  a  reviviscence  from 
the  gi-avd  of  the  parent  seed,  which  grows  up  into  a  re- 
constructed identity  with  the  past,  and  waves  at  length, 
in  all  the  luxuriance  of  harvest." 

"  Animal  life  has  like  analogies.  The  silk-worm  lives 
its  day  here,  and  does  up  its  work, — weaves  its  own 
winding-sheet,— digs  its  grave,  and  dies  in  it.     But  look 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   THE   PRESS.  97 

there  some  ten  days  after,  and  you  notice  that  a  variega- 
ted, beautiful,  winged  insect  has  eaten  its  way  out  of 
that  sepulchre,  with  new  capacities  of  motion,  and  new 
instincts  and  habits  of  life  altogether." 

"  Transfer,  now,  your  gaze  to  that  joyous  butterfly, 
yonder,  buoyant  in  mid-air,  over  flood  and  field  and 
flower,  sporting  in  the  sun-beam,  and  reflecting  its  hues 
and  brightness.  It  is  but  the  reviviscence  of  some 
worm  at  your  feet,  which  had  crept  away  in  obscurity 
to  die,  and  from  whose  unconscious  chrysalis  state  it  is 
thus  metamorphosed,  and  reproduced,  that  emblem  of 
ecstasy  and  delight  you  now  behold  it." 

"  How  different  the  new  laid  e^^,  from  the  perfected 
and  sprightly  form  which,  through  a  process  of  incuba- 
tion, at  length  bursts  its  shell,  and  leaps  forth  into  life 
and  activity  from  its  dark  enclosure  I  The  embryo  state 
of  all  animals,  whether  oviparous  or  viviparous,  is  as 
different  from  that  which  after  is,  as  are  our  present 
body  and  state,  and  habits  of  existence  here,  *  from  the 
hody  that  shall  he.''  So  that,  in  respect  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body,  as  connected  with  the  future  life,  we 
have  many  obvious  and  instructive  analogies  in  the  life 
that  now  is." 


Another  volume  will  soon  be  published  under  the 
title  of  "The  Being  of  God,  Moral  Government  and 
Theses  in  Theology."  Upon  this  the  author  bestowed 
his  maturest  thoughts,  and  never  did  his  mind  seem 
more  clear  and  vigorous,  and  intent  upon  profound 
thought,  than  in  the  last  months  of  his  life. 

Some  of  the  papers  that  follow  this  memoir,  are  of  the 
7 


98  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    THE    PRESS. 

same  argumentative,  elaborate  and  abstruse  character ; 
but  those  which  relate  to  Europe  and  some  others,  will 
command,  perhaps,  more  general  acceptance,  and  be 
read  with  greater  pleasure.  They  indicate  an  observing, 
thoughtful,  practical  and  philosophical  type  of  mind. 

It  is  important  here  to  add  that  Dr.  Squier  contribu- 
ted a  few  productions  to  the  American  Tract  Society ; 
and  these  have  enjoyed  a  large  and  useful  circulation. 
Their  names,  with  the  number  that  had  been  published, 
up  to  1865,  are  as  follows  : — 

No.  440.    The  Stricken  Bride, 376,000. 

"    464.    Counsel  to  the  Converted, 391,000. 

"    481 .    Why  are  you  not  a  CTiristian  ? 560,000. 

"    483.    ^Vhy  yet  Impenitent  ? 446,000. 

Her  Feet  go  Down  to  Death,  (about).  .40,000. 
The  aggregate  number  of  copies  circulated  is, . . .  1,813,000. 


INTELLECTUAL    CHARACTER.  99 


CHAPTER  X. 

INTELLECTUAL,  SOCIAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER. 

Notices  of  the  intellectual  character  of  Dr.  Squier  are 
scattered  through  some  of  the  previous  chapters  of  this 
work,  (particularly  chapters  VII,  VIII,  IX,)  and  the  ma- 
terials are  abundant  in  his  miscellaneous  writings,  con- 
tained in  this  volume,  for  the  reader  to  form  thence  a 
just  estimate  of  it  for  himself.  It  is  deemed,  therefore, 
quite  superfluous  to  add  further  remarks  upon  this  sub- 
ject, though  it  gives  great  pleasui-e  to  subjoin  the  fol- 
lowing brief  and  very  just  estimate  of  Dr.  Squier's  in- 
tellectual character,  from  the  pen  of  a  highly  competent 
judge.  Rev.  Prof  Wilson,  of  Hobait  College,  Geneva : — 

"  Dr.  Squier  was  no  common  man.  He  possessed  a 
mind  of  very  unusual  grasp,  and  comprehensiveness  of 
thought,  and  was  probably  as  free  from  naiTowness  of 
views  and  bigotry  as  any  man  ever  was,  or  as  a  man 
with  any  earnest  convictions  could  well  be.  He  pos- 
sessed a  deep  insight  into  character,  and  a  large  share 
of  administrative  ability.  He  was  a  profound  thinker 
also,  and  remarkably  fearless  in  the  adoption  of  his  opin- 
ions— though  perfectly  free  from  recklessness  or  harsh- 
ness— and  with  a  remarkable  boldness  and  vigor  in  as- 
serting what  he  believed  to  be  true ;  he  always  encour- 
aged both  by  word  and  manner,  a  like  boldness  and  in- 
dependence in  others.     He  was  remarkably  genial  and 


100  DOMESTIC    AND    SOCIAL    CHARACTER. 

good-hearted  in  his  intercourse  with  others,  and  by  his 
death  has  left  a  vacancy  in  the  church  to  which  he  be- 
longed, in  the  social  circle  which  he  adorned,  and  in  the 
hearts  of  those  who  loved  him,  which  no  other  person 
can  ever  fill." 


The  domestic  and  social  character  of  Dr.  Squier  is  thus 
portrayed  by  one  who  has  known  him  intimately,  and 
shared  for  weeks  together  the  hospitalities  of  his  house, 
for  many  years,  and  has  thus  enjoyed  the  best  opportu- 
nities of  reaching  a  correct  conclusion  : — 

"  The  social  chatacteri sties  of  Dr.  Squier  were  best 
appreciated  by  residents  in  his  household  and  by  his  oc- 
casional guests.  He  was  given  to  hospitality  and  knew 
how  to  entertain  those  around  him,  so  as  to  make  them 
at  perfect  ease — free  from  every  embaiTassment.  His 
deportment  was  gentle,  affectionate  and  unostentatious. 
While  in  conversation  he  would  conform  to  the  wishes 
of  others ;  he  was  most  in  his  element  when  speaking 
on  topics  of  special  interest,  relating  to  science,  litera- 
ture, general  politics,  history,  morals  and  religion ;  al- 
ways conversing  like  one  who  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  subject  before  him.  His  largeness  of  heart  and  his 
wide  range  of  thought  would  then  become  manifest. 
He  seldom  indulged  in  trifling  conversation.  A  little 
vein  of  artless  pleasantry  would  sometimes  appear.  But, 
though  generally  grave,  he  was  of  a  cheerful,  happy 
temperament.  His  dwelling  was  no  place  for  censori- 
ousness.  Christian  courtesy  and  kindness  were  delight- 
fully manifested  in  all  his  daily  intercourse." 

"  He  was  fond  of  children.     His  genial  manner  se- 


DOMESTIC    AND    SOCIAL   CHARACTER.  101 

cured  confidence  and  love  as  they  would  hang  about 
him." 

"  Those  who  bowed  with  him  around  the  family  al- 
tar felt  that  it  was  a  hallowed  place.  He  ever  seemed 
like  one  in  communion  with  the  Holy  One.  For  him 
to  live  was  Christ.  He  eminently  dwelt  in  God.  '  He 
that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God.'  His  heart  over- 
flowed with  love." 


The  domestic  traits  of  Dr.  Squier  appear  to  great  ad- 
vantage in  his  private  correspondence  which  for  many 
years  has  been  preserved  ;  but  it  is  chiefly  interesting  in 
revealing  the  arduous  labors,  the  earnest  zeal,  self-sacri- 
fice, and  devotion  to  his  work  which  distinguished  his 
efiforts  in  behalf  of  Auburn  Seminary,  and  subsequently 
as  corresponding  secretary  and  agent  for  the  cause  of 
Home  Missions  in  Western  '^ew  York. 

We  obtain  a  very  pleasing  view  of  his  character  as  it 
shone  forth  in  his  own  house — the  best  place  for  the 
study  of  character — in  the  extracts  here  appended  from 
a  few  of  the  letters  ^vi-itten  just  after  his  death  to  Mrs. 
S.,  by  some  nephews  and  nieces,  who  seem  to  have  ap- 
preciated in  no  common  degree  the  great  worth  of  their 
,  departed  uncle,  as  a  friend  and  relative  : — 

"  Dear  Aunt  Squier  : — We  have  heard  of  dear  Un- 
cle's triumphant  death,  and  of  the  beautiful  spirit  ol 
resignation  with  which  you  met  this  separation  from  one 
who  has  borne  the  burden  of  life  with  you  through 
many  years  of  changing  experience.  While  our  sym- 
pathies sun-ound  you  in  this  hour  of  loneliness,  we 
would  not  recall  Uncle  from  the  home  his  spirit  longed 


102  DOMESTIC    AND    SOCIAL    CHARACTER. 

to  occupy.  His  life  was  so  full  of  the  Christian  ele- 
ment, and  his  old  age  the  ripening  into  an  Indian  sum- 
mer, whose  gentle  atmosphere  was  grateful  to  all  who 
felt  it,  that  it  only  needed  this  peaceful  departure  to 
give  completeness  and  perfection  of  beauty  to  that  life. 
May  the  God  who  befriended  him  be  your  supporter  and 
comforter,  now  that  this  strong  human  j^rop  is  removed." 


"  Uncle  has  been  a  very  dear  Uncle  to  me,  and  your 
visits  to  us  as  well  as  ours  to  your  hospitable  roof  have 
always  been  bright  and  happy  spots  in  my  life.  If  a 
good  Providence  shall  permit  these  visits  to  be  repeated 
without  him,  as  I  hope  it  may,  we  shall  feel  his  loss  the 
more.  It  was  a  great  blessing  that  the  sainted  one  was 
permitted  to  speak  such  precious  words  of  consolation 
to  you  all  before  his  departure,  and  that  Uncle  Thomas 
and  Aunt  Mary  were  suffered  to  be  present  in  these  last 
sad  yet  joyful  days..  With  how  many  mercies  our  Fa- 
ther tempers  the  cup  of  affliction  He  presents  to  our 
lips !" 


"  Many  times  during  the  day  do  I  peer  over  the  space 
separating  us,  into  your  narrowed  circle  and  refresh  my 
heart  by  a  look  into  your  loved  faces,  and  while  I  see 
you  all  at  different  hours  of  the  day,  evening  or  night, 
the  great  vacancy  in  your  circle  is  ever  present  before 
me.  But  down  from  the  shining  bights  above,  a  soft 
and  soothing  light  is  ever  gilding  the  vacant  seat  at 
the  table,  the  desk,  the  lounge,  where  full  oft  the  weary 
body,  so  dear  to  us,  used  to  rest.  In  place  of  the  loving 
voice  calling  "wifey,"  you  catch  an  echo  of  that  won- 


DOMESTIC   AND   SOCIAL   CHARACTER.  103 

drous  song  of  praise  to  Him  who  hath  loved  us  and 
washed  us  in  his  own  blood.  You  hear  no  more  the  fa- 
miliar step  in  the  hall  or  about  the  house,  but  have  only 
to  shut  the  ear  to  earthly  sounds,  and  there  steals  through 
the  listening  sense  the  tread  of  the  ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands  as  they  come 
from  the  east  and  west,  the  north  and  south,  to  cast 
their  crowns  before  Him  '  who  died  and  is  alive  again, 
and  who  liveth  forever  more.'  Thus  to  me  your  beau- 
tiful home  is  surrounded  and  filled  with  these  blessed 
reminders  of  the  brighter,  better  home  beyond." 


"  My  heart  is  with  you  in  overflowing  sympathy,  in 
your  hour  of  loneliness  and  bereavement ;  your  life-long 
companion  taken  from  your  side ;  the  tenderness  and 
affection  so  long  your  support  and  happiness  cut  off  by 
death,  and  no  human  voice  will  ever  respond  to  your 
most  secret  thoughts  so  truly  and  understandingly  again. 
But  my  deai-ly  beloved  Aunt,  I  cannot  really  say  cut  of 
hy  death,  nor  can  I,  even  with  a  full  appreciation  of  your 
personal  loss,  mourn  as  I  would  for  one  without  hope, —  * 
that  hope  anchored  beyond  the  storms  !  Dear,  revered, 
loving  Uncle  Squier,  gone  !  but  gone  home  I  and  to  his 
clear  faith,  the  valley  was  nothing  to  pass  through, 
while  the  light  of  heaven  gleamed  over  it ;  yes  I  al- 
most feel  sure  he  had  no  doubts  or  fears :  his  logical 
mind  and  sound  judgment  gave  him  unerring  trust  and 
unruffled  peace,  which  seemed  always  to  say  '  I  know 
that  my  Redeemer  liveth.'  This  has  always  been  a 
pleasure  for  me  to  think  of  and  I  have  so  often  wished 
that  I  might  live  near  you  or  Aunt  Mary  with  your  no- 


104  DOMESTIC    AND    SOCIAL   CHARACTER. 

ble  husband,  to  complement  all  that  our  poor  weakness 
needs  to  guide,  to  help  and  support  us,  in  human  sym- 
pathy, so  that  I  might  gain  something  in  the  way  of 
strength,  by  their  wise  and  affectionate  counsel.  Dear 
Uncle  !  your  work  is  done  !  earnestly  and  sincerely,  and 
more  and  more  in  child-like  humility,  did  you  labor 
for  your  Master ;  and  now,  all  suffering,  all  care,  all  dim 
doubts,  all  haunting  fears,  all  anxiety  and  weakness,  ex- 
changed for  clear  sight,  holy  raptui-e  and  triumphant 
joy,  in  the  presence  of  the  Saviour  who  bought  you ! 
Not  one  longing  wish  do  you  send  for  his  return,  as  you 
stand  gazing  into  heaven,  but  still  the  beautiful  track  of 
heavenly  light  his  spirit  left  in  its  upward  flight  may 
rest  upon  the  sad  clouds  of  human  sorroiv.  Oh  you 
must  miss  him  everyivhere  !  His  heart  always  leant  lov- 
ingly to  you,  my  dear  Aunt,  (as  well  it  might)  and  this 
is  the  foundation  of  our  human  loves  and  sympathies — 
very  tender  and  kind  in  his  feelings,  and  gi-owing  more 
so  as  he  grew  older,  your  hearts  became  more  and  more 
united." 


We  add  an  extract  from  one  more  letter,  that  from  T. 
P.  Handy,  Esq. : 

"  I  shall  hardly  be  able  to  realize  that  Dr.  Squier  is 
no  more.  His  death  was  quite  unexpected  both  to  my- 
self and  Mrs.  H.  We  have  known  him  during  these 
forty  years  only  to  esteem  and  love  him.  His  pleasant 
and  benign  face  was  one  of  those  I  always  delighted 
to  look  upon  in  my  visits  to  Geneva.  We  shall  greatly 
miss  him  not  only  in  his  society,  but  his  counsels  and 
his  prayers.     The  church  has  sustained  a  gi'eat  loss,  for 


DOMESTIC   AKD   SOCIAL   CHARACTER.  105 

he  loved  it,  and  labored  for  its  welfare ;  and  his  earnest 
prayers  so  often  heard  are  now  no  more." 

"  You  need  not  moui-n,  my  dear  friend :  he  has  only 
passed  over  the  river  but  just  before  us,  and  is  permit- 
ted to  '  inherit  the  promises'  while  we  are  to  tany  till 
the  Master  comes." 


A  brief  extract  from  the  letter  of  another  friend,  illus- 
trative of  the  same  social  qualities,  is  subjoined : — 

"^NTot  since  my  dear  father's  death  have  I  been  so 
deeply  moved  as  when  I  heard  that  Dr.  Squier  had 
passed  away  from  earth.  He  was  next  to  my  father.  I 
had  known,  and  revered,  and  loved  him  almost  as  long, 
and  I  always  felt  honored  when  he  called  me  his  child. 
How  well  I  remember  his  first  kindly  and  afiectionate 
greeting  when  he  met  our  family  as  strangers  at  the  old 
Franklin  House  in  Geneva, — it  was  a  large-hearted  wel- 
come, and  he  was  ever  the  same  genial  and  true  friend, 
from  that  day  down  to  the  time  when  I  last  grasped  his 
hand,  three  and  a  half  years  ago.  It  is  to  his  memory 
as  a  warm-hearted  friend,  that  I  wish  especially  to  bear 
my  humble  tribute." 

"  I  need  not  speak  of  him  as  a  scholar,  or  as  a  Divine. 
There  are  monuments  on  every  side  of  his  ability,  his 
energy,  and  his  persevering  industry.  Let  his  works 
praise  him." 


The  religious  tone  and  energy  of  Dr.  Squier'' s  mind  are 
plainly  discerned  in  his  writings,  but  are  also  most  beau- 
tifully and  impressively  exhibited  in  the  account  of  his 
last  days,  presented  in  the  following  chapter ;  set  forth 


106  RELIGIOUS   CIIAKACTER. 

also,  and  commended  in  all  the  letters  of  condolence  and 
sympathy  included  in  this  memoir,  to  which,  therefore, 
it  will  be  sufficient  to  direct  the  reader's  attention,  that 
he  may  be  furnished  with  ample  and  concuiTent  testi- 
mony to  the  religious  attainments  and  spirit  of  our  de- 
parted and  revered  friend. 

We  have  seen  his  character  exhibited  to  gi'eat  advan- 
tage, in  the  field  of  Christian  enterprise,  in  the  cause  of 
Academic,  Collegiate,  and  Theological  Education,  and 
in  the  planting  and  fostering  of  numerous  churches  in 
Western  New  York.  It  should  not  be  omitted,  that 
his  character,  as  a  Christian  patriot,  was  ever  prominent 
dming  our  late  National  stmggle,  and  that  his  influence 
in  respect  to  it  was,  on  all  suitable  occasions,  strongly 
thrown  in  behalf  of  the  right.  The  noble  stand  which 
he  took  in  behalf  of  the  American  government,  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  Switzerland,  in 
1861,  entitles  him  to  the  esteem  and  the  gi-atitude  of 
every  friend  of  a  united,  undivided  country ;  for  it  must 
be  remembered  that  our  national  cause  was  at  that  time 
most  unpopular  in  the  European  mind,  and  it  required 
no  small  amount  of  moral  coui*age  to  enter  upon  its  de- 
fence in  such  a  presence.  How  manly  that  defence 
was,  may  be  seen  on  the  perusal  of  his  speech  on  a  sub- 
sequent page  in  Part  II.,  nor  was  that  speech  without  an 
effective  influence  for  good  to  our  national  cause.  Ref- 
erence also  should  be  made  to  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  lecture  on  European  Topics,  in  which  are  intro- 
duced the  circumstances  in  which  that  speech  was  de- 
livered. 


FUNERAL   SERMON.  107 

But  the  portraiture  of  Dr.  Squier's  character,  social, 
intellectual  and  religious,  is  rendered  more  complete  by 
here  subjoining  the  graphic  observations  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Hogarth,  (his  former  pastor,  and  a  most  intimate 
friend,)  which  form  the  concluding  portion  of  the 
Funeral  Sermon,  which  he  preached  in  Geneva,  to  his* 
old  congregation,  from  the  text,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead 
that  die  in  the  Lord."     Rev.  14:   13. 


"  It  is  fitting  that  I  should  render  to  you  such  brief 
judgment  of  this  brother  as  my  love  for  him  will  sug- 
gest, and  all  the  facts  of  his  life  will  sustain.  He  had 
his  faults,  and  none  knew  them  more  thoroughly  than 
he  did.  And  he  complained  against  himself  with  an 
honest  self-reproach.  If  I  should  attempt  the  language 
of  unmodified  eulogy,  the  memory  of  his  frankness  and 
humility  would  reproach  me.  Such  language,  he  would 
say,  can  only  be  true  of  the  '  Sinless  One.'  Be  assured, 
I  know  that  he  would  not  ask  me  to  say  for  him  what 
he  never  said  for  himself  We  leave  his  mistakes  where 
we  buried  him, — and  turn  to  such  estimate  of  the  man 
as  a  few  moments  will  allow. 

"  His  social  nature  was  genial.  If  at  any  time  he 
seemed  to  be  reserved  or  difficult  of  approach,  it  was 
probably  owing  to  some  occupation  of  the  mind,  or  to 
some  impression  that  his  opinion  or  friendship  was  not 
really  desired.  He  was  specially  frank  in  his  feelings, 
and  preserved  his  sympathies  so  fresh  that  the  young 
found  him  a  companion,  and  the  men  of  his  age  found 
him  a  friend. 

His  home  was  always  open  to  the  ministry, — and  at 


108  FUNERAL    SERMON. 

no  man's  board  were  they  more  cheerfully  welcomed,  or 
more  generously  entertained.  He  was  happy  always 
when  a  large  circle  was  about  him,  and  full  of  enjoy- 
ment. It  may  be  that  his  absence  from  home  on  his 
agencies,  and  an  occasionally  cold  reception,  such  as 
agents  meet,  taught  him  the  lesson  of  a  christian  cour- 
tesy and  hospitality.  But  the  lesson  came  to  a  nature 
that  was  prompt  to  receive  it :  and  so  his  heart  often 
ovei-flowed  to  meet  and  greet  his  friends.  He  knew  how 
to  sympathize  with  the  afflicted.  He  was  not  formal 
and  ostentatious  in  his  sympathy.  While  I  was  with 
you,  God  called  to  Himself  one  of  my  own  babes.  He 
came  to  me  in  that  new  experience  of  grief  as  no  other 
man  came,  and  spoke  to  me  not  in  the  usual  formula  of 
condolence  with  the  afflicted.  He  said  nothing  of  the 
duty  of  submission, — of  the  more  happy  state  of  the 
dead  and  other  things  to  w^hich  only  the  blindest  and 
most  formal  assent  could  be  given.  But  he  talked  of 
the  humanity  and  brotherhood  of  Jesus,  until  I  found 
myself  leaning  upon  Him  with  a  heart  calmed  and  sus- 
tained by  the  words  of  love.  This  power  of  Mr. 
Squier  did  not  come  from  any  similar  experience,  for  hie 
had  none, — but  from  a  gentle  nature,  sanctified  by  the 
grace  of  God. 

"  His  geniality  was  obvious  in  the  rare  control  of  his 
speech  which  always  distinguished  him.  Few  men  had 
more  occasion  at  times  for  bitterness  of  speech,  because 
few  suftered  more  from  that  cause.  I  have  yet  to  find 
the  man  who  knew  him  to  indulge  in  severe  language 
by  way  of  retaliation.  The  public  acts  of  a  public  man 
that  were  open  to  criticism,  he  fairly  canvassed.     But  he 


FUNERAL    SERMON.  109 

was  not  petulent  with  his  tongue.  He  was  accustomed 
to  apologize  for  the  severe  things  said  of  himself,  by  re- 
plying— that  he  was  misunderstood — that  the  persons 
never  intended  what  their  language  involved — that  they 
could  not  desire  to  harm  him.  This  forgiving  temper 
was  constant, — and  these  words  were  not  the  freak  of  a 
momentary  feeling  of  good  nature. 

"  As  a  part  of  this  geniality,  there  was  in  him  a  quaint 
and  quiet  humor,  lying,  as  it  always  does,  near  to  his 
highest  piety  and  best  faculties.  It  was  not  gross, — did 
not  find  indulgence  in  coarse  jests,  and  in  practical 
jokes.  But  there  was  a  keen  sensibility  to  real  wit,  and 
his  gratification  at  the  expression  of  it  would  ripple  over 
his  face  in  a  most  happy  smile.  There  were  fountains 
of  good  feeling  in  him,  and  they  were  not  sealed  foun- 
tains. And  so,  he  was  full  of  cheerful  talk,  and  made  a 
pleasant  companion. 

"  His  mind  was  at  once  comprehensive  and  growing. 
It  was  always  in  training.  At  no  time  was  he  indifiier- 
ent  to  the  ideas  that  moved  the  men  of  thought.  After 
all  his  agencies  had  been  resigned,  and  he  had  time  at 
his  command,  he  was  often  in  the  study.  This  tendency 
to  intellectu.al  pursuits  always  interested  him  in  schools 
and  colleges,  and  accounts  for  his  connection  with  them 
through  so  many  years  of  his  life.  That  interest  never 
abated. 

"  Moreover,  he  read  much  with  his  pen  in  hand,  and 
made  full  notes  of  the  suggestions  which  his  reading 
awakened.  Only  a  studious  and  industrious  man  will 
employ  his  pen.  The  di-ift  of  his  mind  was  to  philo- 
sophical study.     It  even  entered  into  his  sermons ;  and 


110  FUNERAL    SERMON. 

men  who  live  by  excitement  more  than  by  reflection, 
sometimes  thought  they  lacked  the  emotional  element. 
The  things  which  he  wrote,  and  his  general  conversa- 
tions showed  rather  a  penetration  into  given  themes, 
than  a  broad  culture.  He  did  not  so  much  prosecute 
general  scholarship  as  particular  lines  of  thought  for 
which  the  bias  of  his  mind  fitted  him.  A  man's  library 
indicates  usually  the  breadth  and  scope  of  his  reading. 
The  range  of  topics  which  he  treats  suggests  his  modes 
and  direction  of  thought.  He  read  and  wrote  within 
the  sphei'e  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy.  In  these 
studies  he  was  constantly  seeking  in  the  human  mind  a 
rational  basis  on  w^hich  to  stand  and  address  men  on  the 
grand  themes  of  the  gospel.  He  aimed  to  find  and  un- 
fold a  philosophy  that  sustains  God's  moral  sovereignty, — 
man's  personal  free-agency  and  consequent  responsibili- 
ty,— the  personal  agency  of  man  in  his  own  sinfulness, — 
the  honest  intention  of  a  salvation  ofiered  to  his  accept- 
ance,— and  his  ability,  under  an  economy  of  grace,  to 
accept  that  salvation.  He  felt  the  difiiculty  of  urging 
men  to  receive  a  gospel  which  philosophy  said  they  had 
no  power  to  accept.  He  attempted  a  solution  and  re- 
statement of  the  principles  involved  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  difficulties  clinging  to  this  subject.  His  path 
was  at  right  angles  with  the  old  philosophy,  in  many 
respects,  and  not  always  in  harmony  with  the  accredited 
and  installed  theology.  With  all  deference  to  his  own 
judgment  on  the  'salient  points'  of  his  life,  I  must 
affirm  my  conviction  that  the  salient  point  reached  him 
when  he  was  liberated  from  the  power  of  his  own  past, 
and  found  his  account  with  his  own  mind  in  the  use  of 


FUNERAL    SEKMON.  Ill 

his  own  powers.  That  personal  freedom  from  the  tram- 
mels of  authority  and  the  technicalities  of  creed,  was 
the  grand  act  of  emancipation  which  advanced  him  an 
half  century  in  his  studies.  Men  will  differ  on  the 
question,  whether  he  succeeded  in  the  solution  of  all  the 
implied  problems.  They  cannot  doubt  that  the  attempt 
was  honest  and  the  treatment  thorough.  I  think  it 
mainly  successful.  He  died  in  the  full  conviction  that 
truth  will  ultimately  be  found  in  the  direction  indicated 
by  his  own  lines  of  thought.  These  two  continents  of 
thought — the  philosophical  and  the  religious — may  not  be 
united  by  this  cable  which  he  laid.  But  the  main  course 
and  soundings  will  be  safe  for  some  other  attempt  At 
least  he  was  in  sympathy  with  the  broadest  thinking  of 
his  time.  The  things  which  he  has  written  will  remain, 
and  will  prove  that  his  brain  was  not  idle  in  a  stirring 
age. 

"  His  religious  experience  was  in  sympathy  with  his 
habits  of  thought, — for  there  was  symmetry  in  his  sys- 
tem, and  in  his  general  character.  His  type  of  religious 
life  was  not  largely  emotional.  And  yet,  I  am  told, 
that  through  your  last  revival  he  was  overflowing  with 
tender  solicitude,  and  fervent  prayer,  and  was  always  in 
the  place  of  daily  worship  when  his  health  permitted. 
Still  I  should  say  his  religion  was  not  of  the  demonstra- 
tive sort, — not  sportive  and  fitful,  and  kaleidosisopic.  It 
was  rather  principled, — having  its  roots  in  the  truth, 
and  in  faith.  He  could  give  *  reason  for  the  hope  that 
was  in  him.'  His  life  could  be  stated  in  appreciable 
terms.  It  was  a  religion  of  intelligence  as  well  as  of  feeling , 
that  sustained  and  ruled  him.     It  was  therefore  reliable. 


112  FUNERAL    SERMON. 

and  not  subject  to  the  painful  alternations  which  mark 
the  purely  emotional  type  of  piety.  When,  at  the  last, 
however,  his  faith  rose  to  full  assurance,  his  communion 
with  Jesus  was  very  touching  in  its  tenderness,  and 
bursts  of  gratitude  and  joy  broke  from  his  lips.  But 
the  time  of  '  open  vision'  was  drawing  on,  and  his  full 
heart  uttered  all  the  joys  that  had  lain  silent  in  its  quiet 
depths. 

"  So  fashioned  by  nature  and  by  grace, — so  improved 
by  culture,  this  friend  and  brother  was  with  us  for  many 
years.  He  loved  Christ  and  trusted  Him  to  the  end. 
Those  '  statutes  that  were  his  song  in  the  house  of  his 
pilgrimage,'  are  his  fuller  song  in  his  enduring  home. 
'  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord/  " 


HIS   LAST   DAYS.  113 


CHAPTER  XI. 

HIS  LAST  DAYS. 

For  several  months  before  his  departure,  Dr.  Squier 
had  manifested  an  uncommon  interest  in  the  promotion 
of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  God  favored  Geneva, 
during  the  winter  and  spring,  with  a  large  outpouring 
of  His  Holy  Spirit,  which  seems  to  have  originated  in 
a  Morning  Union  Prayer  Meeting,  of  difl'erent  denom- 
inations, Avhich  commenced  the  second  week  in  January, 
and  is  still  continued. 

These  and  other  meetings  Dr.  Squier,  though  in  quite 
feeble  heanih,  attended  several  times  a  week,  up  to  the 
period  when  bodily  prostration  at  length  confined  him 
to  his  house  ;  and  scarcely  ever  did  he  attend  a  meeting, 
without  rising  in  his  place,  and  lifting  up  his  voice  in 
prayer,  and  pouring  forth  words  of  christian  wisdom 
and  exhortation.  His  soul  was  evidently  full  and  over- 
flowing with  thoughts  and  sentiments  bearing  on  the 
great  question  of  human  salvation  and  the  glory  of  God. 
He  was  often  heard  to  say,  during  these  months,  that  he 
felt  he  was  doing  up  his  last  works,  and  would  soon 
enter  into  his  rest.  And  none  could  witness  these 
spontaneous,  frequent,  constant,  spiritual  labors  for  the 
good  of  souls,  and  not  suspect  that  the  Great  Master 
was  preparing  him  to  "  go  up  higher."  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  he  had  at  this  time  no  pastoral  charge  ; 
8 


114  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

wag  under  no  formal  obligations  thus  to  labor,  but  was 
prompted  solely  by  love  to  the  place  of  prayer,  the 
cause  of  truth,  and  the  God  of  Zion. 

When  he  was  no  longer  able  to  meet  with  God's  peo- 
ple in  the  place  of  daily  Morning  Prayer,  and  especially 
when  he  had  been  called  to  minister  in  the  upper  sanc- 
tuary, they  deeply  and  tenderly  felt  the  loss  of  his  pres- 
ence, and  co-operation  and  sympathy.  For  many  days, 
dining  his  last  illness,  it  was  most  edifying  and  affecting 
to  hear  the  earnest,  heart-felt  prayers  and  thanksgiWngs 
which  they  poured  forth  in  relation  to  him  before  the 
mercy  seat.  The  place  of  prayer  seemed  nothing  less 
than  an  ante-chamber  of  heaven.  And  for  weeks,  after 
the  good  man's  departure,  the  frequent  references  to  the 
grace  of  God  which  had  been  manifested  in  his  chamber 
of  sickness  and  of  death,  diffused  through  all  hearts  the 
spirit  of  the  heavenly  world,  and  exerted  a  most  saluta- 
ry and  delightful  influence. 

The-  last  sickness  of  Dr.  Squier  w^as  of  but  few  days 
duration,  and  attended  with  no  disturbance  or  impairing 
of  his  strong  and  active  mental  powers.  It  was  only  a 
gradual  and  yet  somewhat  rapid  failure  in  the  bodily 
functions  and  strength,  so  that  the  interviews  with 
Christian  friends  were  mutually  gratifying  and  instruc- 
tive. For  nearly  a  week  before  he  passed  away,  he  felt 
assured  that  each  day  would  be  the  last,  and  he  so  ex- 
pressed himself  to  his  friends,  accompanied  with  the' 
utterance  of  desire  that  it  might  be  the  last.  Tliis  arose 
not  from  any  bodily  suffering  from  which  it  would  be 
natural  to  desire  relief ;  nor  from  anything  disagi-eeable 
or  painful  in  his  domestic  relations,  for  never  was  there 


HIS    LAST   DAYS.  115 

a  fonder  husband  than  he,  nor  a  more  devoted  wife  than 
she  who  waited  on  him  day  and  night  with  most  affec- 
tionate and  careful  and  tender  assiduity;  nor  had  he 
anything  to  complain  of  in  other  attendant  circum- 
stances, for  he  was  blessed  with  a  beautiful  residence 
and  with  all  the  home  attractions  that  his  heart  could 
demand.  The  only  explanation  that  can  be  given  of 
his  desire  to  depart,  of  his  impatience  indeed  to  depart, 
is  to  be  sought  in  the  attractions  that  God  had  thrown 
about  the  heavenly  state,  and  in  the  strength  of  faith 
and  holy  love  which  the  Divine  Spirit  had  created  in 
the  breast  of  the  dying  saint. 

The  calmness,  the  serenity,  the  collectedness,  the 
careful  thoughtfulness  about  the  comfort  of  her  whom 
he  was  so  soon  to  leave  a  widow,  the  calm  arrangement 
of  all  the  circumstances  of  his  approaching  funeral,  the 
eager  expectation  of  soon  entering  upon  the  great  tran- 
sit to  the  other  world — all  these  were  fitted  to  produce 
in  the  beholder  a  profound  impression  of  the  power  ot 
faith  in  the  unseen  and  the  eternal — and  of  the  unspeak- 
able value  of  such  an  assurance  of  hope  as  to  the 
Christian's  inheritance  beyond  the  grave. 

INTERVIEW  WITH  REV.  T.  M.  HOPKINS,  GENEVA. 

Mr.  Hopkins  thus  writes  : — 

At  my  first  call  upon  Dr.  Squier,  he  expressed  him- 
self somewhat  surprised  that  I  had  not  called  before. 
This  explained,  he  spoke  in  general  terms  of  the  present, 
as  being  beyond  a  doubt,  his  last  illness ;  that  he  re- 
garded himself  "in  readiness  to  depart  and  be  with 
Christ,"  and  as  being  glad  that  he  was  about  to  exchange 
this  mortal  for  immortality. 


y'  OT  Tat 


116  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

The  \\Titer  then  mentioned  the  fact,  that  the  views 
which  he  (Dr.  S.)  had  advanced  on  the  great  points  of 
Christian  Theology  had  been  widely,  perhaps  far  more 
widely  extended  and  generally  embraced  than  he  was 
aware  of;  that  these  views  had  done  much  to  modify 
and  mould  the  opinions  of  men  on  the  great  themes  of 
religion,  throughout  the  cu'cle  of  his  acquaintance ; 
that  many,  upon  coming  in  contact  mth  them,  had 
found  great  relief  on  points  which  before  were  not 
clear.  He  replied,  "  I  am  gi-atified,  veiy  much,  to  hear 
you  say  that;  am  inclined  to  think  it  is,  in  some  re- 
spects, so,  as  I  have  heard  others  (naming  several)  make 
very  similar  statements." 

After  a  few  moments  pause,  he  added :  "  I  have  been 
reviewing,  so  far  as  I  was  able,  the  great  themes  in 
theology  and  religion,  upon  which  I  have  dwelt  for  the 
past  thirty  or  forty  years,  and  on  many  of  which  I  have 
written,  such  as  the  Being  of  God,  the  incarnation,  the 
crucifixion,  etc.,  etc.  The  elements  of  Clu'istianity,  one 
by  one,  I  have  endeavored  to  look  at  from  my  present 
position  as  a  new  stand-point,  with  a  view  to  determine 
how  far  I  may  say  that  I  fully  believe  them.  I  have 
looked  at  the  subject  of  God  in  Christ,  reconciling  the 
world  unto  Himself,  and  have  found  my  faith,  my  con- 
fidence in  that  aiTangement,  greatly  strengthened.  I 
have  ventured  so  far  as  to  inquu-e  if  the  recorded  fact, 
that  Christ  was  bom  of  a  virgin,  seemed  in  hai-mony 
with  what  we  know  of  the  Infinite  and  His  pui-poses. 
I  do  not  speak  of  this,"  he  added,  "  as  anything  new  or 
uncommon  in  the  line  of  my  investigations,  for  I  have 
often  had  my  attention  directed  to  that  single  point  with 


HIS    LAST    DAYS.  117 

a  feeling  of  deep  and  indescribable  interest,  deeper  per- 
haps than  to  almost  any  other  in  the  great  scheme,  and 
I  am  satisfied,  fully,  that  it  is  all  right ;  that  it  could 
not  have  been  otherwise  than  as  it  is,  if  God  would  save 
lost  man.  It  could  not  be  altered  in  any  respect  with- 
out destroying  the  whole  plan,  or  frustrating  the  pur- 
poses of  an  infinitely  wise  God." 

Many  things  were  uttered  by  him,  of  a  similar  import, 
which  cannot  be  here  repeated ;  but,  one  general  re- 
mark we  can  make,  as  we  close  the  record  of  our  first 
inteiwiew  with  him  at  that  time.  He  seemed  to  have 
been  placed,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  where  he  could 
survey  the  past  at  a  single  glance,  (a  fact  that  he  ap- 
peared to  be  fully  conscious  of,)  and  the  view  which  he 
took  of  his  investigations,  as  well  as  his  decisions,  was 
even  more  than  satisfactory. 

After  a  day  or  two  I  called  again;  he  was  much 
weaker  in  body,  but  so  far  as  could  be  seen,  quite  as 
strong  in  mind.  He  could  converse  but  little ;  but  as 
far  as  any  one  could  see,  his  mind  was  as  clear  and  as 
vigorous  as  ever.  He  had  no  desire  to  stay  a  moment 
after  it  should  please  our  Heavenly  Father  to  call  him 
away.  The  question  was  put  to  him,  as  to  his  present 
support ;  "  whence  do  you  draw  your  greatest  consola- 
tion %  What  is  it  upon  which  your  eye  fixes,  Avheu  you 
go  in  search  of  the  foundation  upon  which  you  now 
rest  with  so  great  satisfaction  f  He  paused  for  a  mo- 
ment, as  if  casting  about  in  mind  for  an  answer.  Dur- 
ing that  pause,  it  was  stated  to  him,  that  when  Dr. 
Watts  was  on  his  dying  bed,  the  same,  or  a  very  similar 
question  was  put  to  him,  and  he  replied,  "  I  am  finding 


118  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

my  chief  support  from  those  plain  and  simple  promises 
in  the  Word  of  God,  which,  dm'ing  my  active  life,  I 
was  so  unwise,  as,  in  a  measm*e,  to  overlook.  My  mind 
is  now  satisfied  T\dth  repeating  over  and  again,  '  I  will 
never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee  :  lo  I  I  am  with  thee 
alway,  even  unto  the  end.'  " 

The  thought  seemed  to  interest  him  very  much :  he 
appeared  instantly  to  be  engaged  in  applying  it  to  his 
own  case:  "Yes,"  said  he,  "that  is  it;  there  am  I;  in 
days  of  health  and  bodily  strength,  it  was  more  in  ac- 
cordance v.dth  my  inclination,  or  bent  of  mind,  to  be 
endeavoring  to  master  those  strong  points  which  are 
sometimes  left  in  the  back  gi-ounds  of  theology.  I 
certainly  overlooked  those  plain  and  easy  promises  which 
are  now  my  chief  support,  and  the  source  of  my  pres- 
ent consolation.  I  love  to  throw  myself  wholly  upon 
them." 

He  then  desired  the  writer  to  repeat  some  of  them, 
w^hich  he  did.  One  he  failed  to  repeat  coiTCCtly ;  the 
dying  ma"n  took  it  out  of  his  mouth,  con-ected  and 
finished  it.  As  expressive  of  his  present  condition  and 
future  prospects,  the  triumphant  words  of  the  Apostle 
were  here  introduced, — "For  I  am  now  ready  to  be 
offered  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand  ;  I  have 
fought  a  good  fight,"  etc.,  etc.  The  mistake  was  made 
of  "  the  crown  of  glory,"  instead  of  that  of  "  righteous- 
ness.^' which  he  here  con-ected  as  before.  He  asked  us 
to  sing  some  of  those  precious  hymns  which  he  had 
been  accustomed  to  sing  in  the  meetings  of  the  past 
winter ;  and  named,  "  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul,  let  me  to 
Thy  bosom  fly." 


HIS   LAST  DAYS.  119 

The  hymn  was  sung,  according  to  his  request,  by  all 
present  that  could  sing.  He  not  only  seemed  to  unite 
with  us  in  the  most  cordial  and  happy  manner,  but  ap- 
peared to  be  borne  away  from  earth  by  its  expressive 
sentiment.  "Now,"  said  he,  "We  will  unite  with 
brother  Hopkins  in  a  short  prayer;  one  right  to  the 
point.  Come  and  kneel  down  close  to  me,  that  I  may 
hear  and  follow  you  without  difficulty."  A  request 
which  was  at  once  complied  with ;  and  we  parted  to 
meet,  as  we  hope  and  believe,  in  heaven.         T.  M.  H. 

LAST  INTERVIEW  WITH  REV.  DR.  GRIDLEY,  REV.  A.  A.  WOOD, 
REV.  J.  J.  PORTER,  AND  OTHERS. 

The  following  paper  also,  from  Dr.  Gridley,  will  be 
read  with  deep  interest : — 

Waterloo,  15tli  August,  1866. 

My  Dear  Brother  : — You  have  requested  some  rem- 
iniscences of  an  interview  which  I  had  with  my  late 
friend,  Dr.  M.  P.  Squier,  a  few  days  before  his  death.  I 
have  delayed  compliance  with  your  request,  both  on  ac- 
count of  urgent  professional  and  other  causes,  and  the 
hope  that  you  would  secure  from  a  more  competent 
hand  what  you  ask  from  mine.  In  the  visit  to  which 
you  refer,  I  was  accompanied  by  Rev.  J.  J.  Porter,  of 
Watertown  ;  Dr.  Wood,  and  Messrs.  Dunn  and  Smith, 
of  Geneva. 

As  Mr.  Porter  and  myself  had  not  seen  Dr.  Squier 
during  his  illness,  we  suggested  to  his  wife,  that,  on 
entering  his  room  we  should  be  seated  near  his  bed. 
He  received  us  all  very  cordially,  and  expressed  his 
pleasure  in  seeing  our  faces.  His  pale  countenance  and 
feeble  hand  indicated  that  life  was  receding,  and  both 


120  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

himself  and  family  were  hourly  looking  for  his  depar- 
tm-e.  Our  call  was  made  on  Monday,  and,  if  my  recol- 
lection serves  me,  this  was  the  day  upon  which  his 
mind  had  previously  fixed  for  his  ascension  to  gloiy. 

His  ability  to  converse,  however,  somewhat  sui-prised 
us.  His  thoughts,  it  is  true,  were  uttered  with  deliber- 
ation, indicative  of  physical  weakness,  and  ,yet  with 
strength  of  voice  and  distinctness  of  articulation  which 
rendered  them  quite  intelligible.  His  stand-point,  his 
vision,  his  manner,  and  even  his  language  were  those  of 
the  Christian  philosopher ;  and,  for  the  space  of  some 
ten  minutes,  he  descanted  upon  the  high  themes  of  the 
gospel,  in  a  manner  that  held  our  attention  as  the  skill- 
ful professor  would  hold  the  minds  of  his  pupils.  In 
speaking  of  himself,  he  said  that  he  had  seen  enough  of 
earth,  and  was  now  ready  to  lay  off  the  body,  and  then 
expatiated  upon  the  enlarged  liberty  which  his  soul 
would  experience  in  its  almost  unlimited  range,  and  in 
its  access  to  sources  of  knowledge  and  enjoyment  here 
unknown. 

When  asked  if,  in  his  cu'cumstances,  Jesus  as  a  Sa- 
viour was  his  full  and  satisfying  reliance,  he  gave  the 
logical  reply — "  Of  course  ;  there  is  no  other  way  of  /?/*<?," 
and  proceeded  to  speak  of  the  relations  of  the  Saviour 
to  the  wants  of  the  world.  His  mind,  so  far  as  we 
could  discover,  was  as  clear  as  a  morning  without  clouds. 
Indeed  the  mastery  of  the  intellect,  the  control  of  the 
reason  was  so  complete,  as  to  hold  the  emotional  part  of 
his  nature  in  perfect  check.  His  whole  manner  was  as 
composed  as  it  could  have  been  in  his  study,  in  full 
health,  and  in   free   conversation  with  friends  on  his 


HIS   LAST   DAYS.  121 

favorite  topics.  In  the  circumstances,  this  preponder- 
ance of  the  intellectual  became  at  first  a  little  oppressive 
to  his  brethren.  Not  that  those  of  us  who  knew  him 
best  were  surprised,  or  uninterested  in  what  he  uttered. 
On  the  contrary,  we  recognized  the  thoughts,  the  man- 
ner and  language,  as  in  perfect  keeping  with  his  habits 
of  thinking,  and  form  of  expression,  when  in  health. 
We  were  instructed.  Our  own  minds  were  quickened 
by  contact  with  his,  as  iron  sharpeneth  iron.  And  yet, 
we  desired  some  digression  from  the  high  current  of  his 
discourse,  or  rather  some  application  of  truth  to  our 
own  souls,  which  his  past  experience  and  present  posi- 
tion so  eminently  fitted  him  to  make.  We  were  almost 
impatient,  that  our  brother  when  resting  so  calmly  on 
hopes  anchored  within  the  veil,  should  lose  any  time  in 
communicating  to  us  words  of  earnest  entreaty  that  we 
should  prepare  also  for  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man. 
We  knew  the  kindness  of  his  heart.  We  knew  that 
his  soul  was  a  well  of  emotion,  and  that  the  fountain 
when  smitten  would  send  forth  its  waters.  We  ven- 
tured therefore  to  ask  for  a  word  of  counsel  and  exhor- 
tation, which  proved  as  effectual  as  the  rod  of  Moses  in 
securing  water  to  his  thirsty  countrymen.  At  first  he 
replied,  that  what  he  had  said  had  been  directed  to  us, 
and  then  added  in  earnest  and  emphatic  tone,  "  Work  on 
brethren,  work  on,  ivork  on  for  Jesus. ''^ 

At  this  point  it  seemed  necessary  to  relieve  him  from 
further  conversation,  and  prayer  was  proposed  ;  and  the 
earnestness  with  which  he  responded  to  the  petitions 
offered,  showed  how  entirely  he  rested  on  the  gi'ace  of 
God  through  the  Gospel. 


122  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

We  soon  took  leave  of  him,  with  impressions  we  shall 
not  soon  forget.  In  some  respects,  this  interview  sur- 
passed in  interest  and  instruction  anything  of  the  kind 
which  had  fallen  under  our  observation.  Never  were 
we  so  sensibly  reminded  that  a  constitutional  bias,  or  a 
habit  of  thought  and  life,  or  "  ruling  passion,"  is  strong 
in  death.  Rarely,  if  ever,  have  we  seen  such  advantage 
of  the  mental  and  spiiitual  over  the  mortal,  or  such  en- 
tire forgetfulness  of  death  as  an  enemy.  The  quiet,  sun- 
light, peace,  victoiy,  of  this  brother,  was  as  complete  as 
one  can  conceive  to  be  possible  on  this  side  ol  the  grave. 
What  lies  beyond  the  valley  so  occupied  his  vision,  that 
the  crossing  seemed  of  no  account.  The  waters  of  the 
dark  river  were  already  divided,  leaving  a  path  so 
illumined  with  the  pillar  of  fire,  that  the  pilgrim  coveted 
the  word  that  should  bid  him  to  pass  over. 

We  have  been  happy  to  learn  from  members  of  the 
family,  that  this  assurance  of  hope  continued  to  the  last ; 
that  no  shade  of  change  appeared  save  in  this — that  as 
the  hour  of  release  drew  nearer,  the  intellectual  gave 
more  and  more  place  to  the  emotional,  and  the  convic- 
tions and  manly  faith  of  the  Christian  philosopher  be- 
came more  perfectly  imbued  with  the  tenderness  and 
affection  of  the  little  child. 

Your  brother. 

Rev.  J.  R.  Boyd.  S.  H.  Gridley. 

LAST  INTERVIEWS  WITH  THE  EDITOR. 

Less  than  a  week  before  he  passed  away.  Dr.  Squier 
sent  for  the  writer,  to  ask  him  to  take  charge  of  the  pa- 
pers which  he  should  leave  behind  for  publication,  and 


HIS   LAST   DAYS.  123 

though  expecting  to  live  scarcely  another  day,  he  con- 
ducted the  interview  with  all  the  calmness  and  compos- 
ure that  could  have  been  exercised  in  perfect  health. 

Two  days  after,  the  WTiter  had  with  him  a  last  inter- 
view, which  he  never  can  forget,  nor  remember  without 
profit  and  gratitude.  It  was  indeed  a  privilege  to  visit 
the  death-bed  of  Mr.  Squier.  It  was  not  a  scene  of 
melancholy  gloom,  of  doubt,  of  distrust,  of  alarm,  or  of 
apathy  or  indifference.  It  was  not  the  scene  so  often 
witnessed,  of  a  clinging  to  earth,  and  of  an  unwilling- 
ness to  be  torn  from  it ;  it  was  one  of  peaceful,  conten- 
ted, happy  resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  under  the 
conviction  that  this  sickness  was  to  be  his  last;  nay, 
it  was  a  scene  of  joyful  hope  in  Christ  and  assurance  of 
heaven,  and  desire  to  be  freed  from  the  incumbrance  of 
an  earthly  tabernaele.  One  day  he  said,  "  Why  should 
I  be  confined  to  this  little  speck  of  earth  when  I  may 
soon  have  the  freedom  of  the  universe  ?"  He  longed  to 
depart  and  to  be  with  Christ.  He  consciously  enjoyed 
even  here,  the  sustaining,  the  comforting  and  strength- 
ening presence  of  his  Saviour. 

On  the  occasion  above  referred  to.  he  said  to  me,  as 
I  stood  beside  him,  "  What  is  that  about  the  general 
assembly  ?"  Discerning  the  drift  of  his  question,  I  read 
to  him  from  Heb.  xii,  "  Ye  are  come  unto  Mount  Zion, 
and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the 
f/eneral  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born,  which  are 
written  in  heaven,  and  to  God  the  judge  of  all,  and  to 
the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the 
Mediator  of  the  New  Covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of 


124  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

sprinkling,  that  speaketh  better  things  than  that  of 
Abel." 

'*'  What  does  that  mean/'  said  he,  "  to  whom  does  it 
apply?"  "To  tiTie  Christians,"  I  answered,  "to  such 
as  you,  and  in  a  brief  space  you  will  know  far  more  of 
its  high  and  precious  import  than  any  of  us  can  now 
conceive." 

When  I  was  reading  the  passage,  he  looked  up  to  me 
with  such  an  obviously  appreciative  faith  in  what  was 
read,  and  with  such  uncommon  interest  in  every  word, 
as  was  deeply  touching,  and  this,  connected  with  the 
circumstance  that  both  he  and  I  expected  he  would,  ere 
another  day,  be  transported  to  that  very  Mount  Zion — 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  into  the  presence  of  Jesus 
the  Mediator  of  the  New  Covenant,  gave  an  intensity 
of  meaning,  and  a  deep  reality  to  the  scene  described 
by  the  Apostle,  never  before  understood  or  felt. 

"  Read  me  some  more,"  he  said,  at  the  same  time  af- 
fectionately pressing  my  ai*m,  which  he  held  during  the 
intei*\'iew,  and  which  he  often  pressed  as  if  to  indicate 
his  approval  of  what  was  read  and  his  acceptance  of  it, 
and  delight  in  it.  "Read  me  some  more."  I  turned  to 
the  next  chapter  of  Hebrews  and  read: — "He  hath  said, 
I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee ;  so  that  we  may 
boldly  say,  the  Lord  is  my  helper,  and  I  will  not  fear 
what  man  shall  do  unto  me."  "Jesus  Christ,  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  "Here  have  we  no 
continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come."  "  Now  the 
God  of  peace  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our 
Lord  Jesus,  that  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through 
the  blood  of  the  everlasting  Covenant,  make  you  per- 


HIS    LAST   DAYS.  125 

feet  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will,  working  in  you 
that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight,  thi'ough  Jesus 
Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  forever  and  ever,  Amen." 

"Read  some  more,"  he  added.  I  then  turned  to  1st 
Pet.,  1:  3,  and  read,  "Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  according  to  his  abund- 
ant mercy  hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope  by 
the  resuiTection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  to  an 
inheritance  incoiTuptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth 
not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you  who  are  kept  by 
the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation  ready 
to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time."  "Jesus  Christ,  whom 
having  not  seen  ye  love,  in  whom  though  now  ye  see 
him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory ;  receiving  the  end  of  your  faith,  even 
the  salvation  of  your  souls."  "Hope  to  the  end  for 
the  grace  that  is  to  be  brought  unto  you  at  the  revela- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ."  "Ye  were  not  redeemed  with 
corniptible  things  as  silver  and  gold,  from  your  vain 
conversation,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ  as 
of  a  Lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot."  "All 
liesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of  man  as  the  flower 
of  grass.  The  grass  withereth,  and  the  flower  thereof 
fadeth  away ;  but  the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  for- 
ever." 

Having  read  these  precious  words,  so  admirably  suited 
to  sustain  and  comfort  the  good  man  in  view  of  his  de- 
parture so  near  at  hand,  he  drank  them  in  as  a  very 
thirsty  man  would  drink  the  pm-est  and  coolest  water. 
Still  he  was  not  satisfied.  "Give  me  some  more,"  he 
again  said.     I  turned  then  to  the  second  chapter,  and 


126  HIS   LAST   DAYS. 

read,  "To  whom  coming  as  to  a  living  stone,  disallowed 
indeed  of  men,  but  chosen  of  God  and  precious,  ye  also, 
as  living  stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house,  an  holy 
priesthood,  to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices,  acceptable  to 
God  by  Jesus  Christ."  "Unto  you  therefore  which  be- 
lieve he  is  precious." 

Here  I  paused,  and  then  said,  "My  dear  brother,  these 
are  your  '  provisions  for  passing  over  Jordan,'  an  expres- 
sion used  I  think  by  Mrs.  Isabella  Graham,  or  by  Dr. 
Scudder,  I  do  not  recollect  which."  "It  was  Mrs.  Gra- 
ham," he  remarked.  "Well,"  said  I,  "these  are  the 
provisions  which  God  this  day  supplies  you  with,  to 
sustain  you  in  passing  over  Jordan,  and  I  hope  to  meet 
you  hereafter  on  the  other  side."  To  which  he  replied 
by  a  silent  pressure  of  my  arm  and  by  an  expressive 
look  of  expectation  and  of  pleasure.  Oh,  how  refresh- 
ing, how  appropriate,  how  life-giving  those  grand  and 
solemn  truths  appeared,  when  read  under  such  peculiar 
circumstances !  In  a  few  moments  he  repeated  with 
■gi'eat  emphasis  the  line, 

"  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul." 

"Yes,"  remarked  I,  "Jesus  has  been,  is  now,  and  ever 
will  be  the  lover  of  your  soul ;  and  oh,  how  great,  how 
matchless,  how  invaluable  that  love  !"  On  parting  with 
him,  he  bade  me  "  good-by,"  as  though  only  for  a  day. 


Early  one  morning,  two  or  three  days  before  he  left 
the  world,  he  said,  "  Oh,  must  I  pass  another  day  on 
earth?  I  had  hoped  ere  this  to  be  at  home ;"  and  at  the 
close  of  a  certain  day,  in  looking  out  upon  the  setting 


HIS    LAST   DAYS.  127 

sun,  he  said,  '•  How  glorious !  and  yet  how  much  more 
glorious  must  its  Maker  be  I" 

On  one  occasion,  he  said  to  his  friends,  "  What  have 
I  any  longer  to  pray  for "?  God  the  Father  is  mine ; 
Jesus  Christ  is  mine;  the  Comforter  is  mine;  things 
present  and  things  to  come  are  mine ;  the  universe  is 
mine.  What  more  can  I  have  ?"  He  said  he  did  not 
want  a  gloomy  funeral ;  he  did  not  wish  his  survivors 
to  be  sad  or  weep,  or  to  put  on  the  habiliments  of 
mourning  for  him,  but  to  rejoice  in  the  happier  condi- 
tion to  which  he  was  about  to  be  advanced.  He  wished 
that  the  funeral  address  might  not  be  composed  of  the 
usual  topics  of  death,  the  grave,  the  bereavement ;  but 
treat  of  the  resurrection,  the  life  to  come,  the  grace  and 
goodness  of  God  towards  him  in  his  last  hours. 

At  another  time  he  said  to  a  number  of  friends,  "  I  am 
such  a  little  floating  speck  in  the  wide  universe,  it  al- 
most seems  that  God  might  forget  me."  "  Not  if  the 
very  hairs  of  your  head  are  numbered,"  answered  one. 
'*  That's  it,  that's  it,"  rejoined  he,  with  evident  satisfac- 
tion. 

"  Now  to  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  the 
only  wise  God,  be  honor  and  glory  everlasting,"  was 
repeatedly  uttered  by  him  with  a  smile.  Once  he  ob- 
served, '•  I  seem  to  be  floating  in  an  ocean  of  love.  I 
am  this  morning  baptized  in  love."  He  would,  when 
he  supposed  himself  to  be  alone,  often  talk  to  his 
precious  Saviour  in  words  like  these,  "I  love  Thee; 
Thou  knowest,  dear  Saviour,  that  I  love  Thee ;  and  Thou 
lovest  me.     I  am  satisfied  in  Thy  love,  dear,  dear  Sa- 


128  HIS    LAST   DATS. 

viour.  I  love  Thee,  and  Thou  hast  a  heart  of  love  to 
me." 

Of  his  physician,  Dr.  Merrill,  he  once  inquired,  "  Do 
you  think  my  dear  Redeemer  is  coming  for  me  to- 
day 1  I  am  peaceful  and  happy,  but  anxious  to  go  and 
to  be  with  Jesus,  rather  than  remain.  I  want  you  and 
other  friends  to  pray  for  my  speedy  departure,  if  the 
good  Lord  be  willing."  At  another  time  he  said  to  his 
physician,  "  I  don't  believe  Jesus  will  forget  his  prom- 
ises, but  yet  I  cannot  help  sometimes  reminding  Him 
of  them  a  little,  just  a  little." 

Two  days  before  his  death,  he  drew  his  physician 
gently  towards  him,  and  said  in  a  whisper,  "God  is 
mine,  Jesus  is  mine,  and  so  all  things,  past,  present  and 
future.  There  remains  nothing  more  for  me  to  ask.  I 
am  only  waiting  to  receive  the  glorious  inheritance." 
His  physician  says  of  him — "  The  day  before  his  death 
he  spoke  of  himself  as  beyond  the  need  of  our  feeble 
prayers.  His  spirit  seemed,  indeed,  to  have  entered 
heaven  many  hours  before  his  body  ceased  to  breathe." 

At  another  time  he  said,  "  How  long  do  you  think  I 
shall  be  detained  here  in  this  little  part  of  God's  works  ? 
I  have  done  with  earth.  I  want  not  things  past,  nor 
things  present.  I  have  only  to  do  with  the  future — the 
higher  state  of  being.  I  have  done  with  earthly  things. 
I  do  not  wish  to  stay  in  this  little  space  of  earth  when 
my  Heavenly  Father  has  such  an  unbounded  universe 
in  which  I  may  live  and  act.  I  exj^ect  my  Father  will 
lind  me  work  there  to  do :  I  shall  not  be  idle.  I  do  not 
know  what  He  will  make  me  do  for  Him.  I  may  be 
sent  to  other  worlds  on  His  errands  of  love." 


HIS   LAST   DAYS.  129 

One  day  his  physician  said  to  him,  "  You  want  to  go 
so  much  that  it  is  hard  to  benefit  you  by  medicine ;  it 
does  you  no  good."  He  repHed,  "  I  will  take  your  med- 
icines, and  do  all  you  direct,  but  this  old  body  you  can- 
not raise  up,  its  work  is  done." 

To  Dr.  Dayton,  coming  into  his  room,  he  addi'essed 
the  inquiry,  "  Why  am  I  kept  here  yet  ?"  Dr.  D.  re- 
plied, "  You  never  preached  so  powerfully  as  now  from 
this  death-bed.  We  deej^ly  feel  in  our  morning  prayer 
meeting  such  a  testimony  of  the  power  of  the  gospel  to 
sustain  in  the  dying  hour."  "Oh,"  said  he,  "I  never 
thought  of  it  in  that  view.     I  will  try  to  be  patient." 

As  his  wife  was  entering  the  room  on  one  occasion, 
he  waved  his  hand  and  said,  "I  love  you,  but  I  want  to 
leave  you.  When  will  you  let  me  go  !  Why  keep  me 
here?"  She  replied,  "I  shall  soon  be  with  you."  He 
said,  "  No ;  you  must  stay  a  little  longer ;  you  may  be 
ten  years  behind  me;  be  a  cheerful  Chiistian;  don't 
cover  your  face  in  a  black  vail,  as  though  you  were  of- 
fended with  God ;  'tis  a  heathenish  practice,  not  Chris- 
tian ;  don't  go  about  hanging  your  head ;  let  all  see  that 
you  are  cheerful  under  affliction ;  you  will  have  to  lay 
this  old  body  up  there,  (in  the  cemetery,)  but  I  shall  not 
be  there — 'tis  only  the  body.  Don't  let  your  heart  rest 
in  the  grave — it  contains  the  shell — the  buttei-fly  has 
left  it.  I  shall  not  be  at  my  funeral,  yet  one  should  re- 
spect himself  enough  to  have  every  thing  done  decent- 
ly." He  then  gave  specific  directions  about  his  cofiin — 
his  di'ess  therein — the  place  the  coffin  should  occupy  at 
the  funeral  exercises — the  course  of  the  procession  to 
the  grave.  He  also  suggested  who  should  preach  his 
9 


130 


HIS    LAST   DAYS, 


funeral  sermon,  in  accordance  with  his  wife's  ^\^shes. 

Very  early  on  the  Thursday  before  he  died,  he  asked 
for  his  sister  Hastings  to  pray  with  him,  but  on  learning 
that  she  had  not  yet  risen,  he  said  to  his  wife,  "  We  will 
pray  together."  Her  prayer  ended,  he  followed  in  a 
very  sweet,  loving  address  to  his  Saviour  God ;  there 
was  a  familiarity  in  all  his  addresses  to  the  Infinite, 
which  seemed  as  though  he  was  away  from  earth. 

Such  was  the  general  tone  of  his  mind  during  the 
last  ten  days  of  his  earthly  life,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  houi's  of  mental  darkness  and  distress  about  a  week 
before  his  departure,  when  the  vision  of  past  sins 
troubled  him  ;  but  ere  long  he  exclaimed,  in  substance, 
"  I  was  in  gi-eat  darkness  and  trouble,  but  my  gracious 
Saviour  has  let  down  his  hand  over  the  awful  cloud  and 
lifted  me  up  again  into  the  sunhght  of  his  presence." 

When  interrogated  with  regard  to  the  views  which 
he  entertained  of  the  next  world,  he  said  that  they  cor- 
responded much  with  those  which  the  late  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock of  Amherst  College  had  described,  as  cherished  by 
himself  during  a  season  of  illness.  He  seemed  impa- 
tient to  enter  upon  a  more  expanded  field  of  action,  of 
observation,  and  enjoyment  than  he  could  have  in  the 
body.  He  once  said,  "  I  don't  know  what  my  Father 
may  give  me  to  do,  but  I  expect  to  be  active  in  tlie 
wide  universe  of  God." 

Once  he  requested  his  brother-in-law.  Dr.  Hastings, 
to  sing  his  favorite  Psalm,  (the  90th.) : — 

"  O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past, 

Our  hope  for  years  to  come, 
Our  shelter  from  the  stormy  blast, 

And  our  eternal  home." 


Ills    LAST   DAYS.  131 

The  last  time  the  household  were  gathered  around  his 
bed  for  family  prayers,  he  looked  on  them  all  as  they 
were  seated,  and  waving  his  hand  he  said,  "  I  love  you 
all,  but  I  desire  to  leave  you"  The  last  part  of  xv.  of  1st 
Corinthians  was  read,  and  the  23d  Psalm.  "  The  Lord 
is  my  Shepherd"  was  sung.  Dr.  Hastings  leading.  Dr. 
Squier  then  raised  his  hand  and  pointed  to  him,  and 
said,  "  That  is  not  quite  it.  I  have  done  with  present 
and  past,  and  have  only  to  do  with  the  other  world ; 
sing  'My  Heavenly  Home.'  "     They  then  sang, 

"My  home  is  in  Heaven,  my  rest  is  not  here,"  &c., 
in  a  part  of  which  he  joined  vocally. 

He  had  taken  leave  of  each  member  of  the  family  at 
different  intervals  during  the  last  week,  in  an  informal 
manner.  His  farewell  to  his  wife  was  given  early  on 
Wednesday  morning,  a  Christian  neighbor  only  being- 
present  with  her.  It  was  calm,  gentle,  tender,  simple, 
conveying  to  her  his  testimony  as  to  her  wisdom  in  coun- 
sel, her  constancy  of  devotion  to  his  comfort  and  hap- 
piness all  through  their  married  life,  and  her  unsurpassed 
excellence  in  her  household — a  testimony  delivered  too 
in  such  beautiful  language  and  form  of  thought,  that  it 
entirely  overwhelmed  her  with  a  sense  of  her  unworthi- 
ness  as  in  a  low  tone  of  voice  he  said,  "Farewell,  fare- 
well." 

That  heart  of  love  flowed  out  to  all,  but  his  care  for 
the  future  of  his  most  devoted  wife  was  peculiar.  Each 
member  of  the  household  had  a  charge  from  him  to 
minister  in  every  way  to  her  comfort  and  health  and 
happiness,  after  he  should  be  withdrawn  from  her. 


132 


HIS   LA.ST   DAYS. 


He  frequently  expressed  the  belief  that  he  should  not 
know  when  he  was  about  to  make  an  exchange  of 
worlds.  He  often  arranged  his  bodily  position  such  as 
he  hoped  it  might  be  when  the  exchange  came  to  be 
made.  As  the  period  of  his  departure  approached,  there 
was  a  change  in  his  bodily  condition,  and  he  asked  his 
wife,  "  What  does  this  mean  ?  I  cannot  long  endure 
this."  She  replied,  '•  'Tis  the  release  you  have  longed 
for  so  much."  Turning  then  his  head,  so  that  he  might 
look  into  her  face,  with  his  usual  affection,  he  breathed 
but  a  few  minutes,  and  passed  gently,  peacefully,  to  his 
everlasting  rest.  This  event  occurred  on  Friday  morn- 
ing, about  ten  o'clock,  June  22d,  186G. 


One  of  his  clerical  friends,  (the  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,)  with 
whom  he  had  been  particularly  intimate,  thus  writes  con- 
cerning him : — 

He  retained  the  complete  possession  of  his  faculties 
to  the  veiy  last ;  was  not  only  resigned,  but  happy,  in 
the  prospect  of  his  change,  and  in  the  hope  of  a  glori- 
ous immortality.  His  last  days  have  been  peculiarly 
full  of  instruction  to  all  who  were  permitted  to  know 
of  them, — his  words,  while  perfectly  cheerful,  were 
most  solemn  and  impressive ;  and  his  own  sense  of  the 
Divine  goodness  and  favor,  were  such  as  have  seldom 
been  equalled,  and  probably  never  surpassed.  Those 
who  were  privileged  to  be  with  him  during  the  last  days 
of  his  life,  feel  as  though  they  had  made  a  nearer  ap- 
proach to  a  realization  of  the  heavenly  world  than  they 


HIS   LAST   DAYS.  133 

had  ever  before  experienced,  or  had  hoped  to  see  in  this 
life. 


Dr.  Squier's  pastor,  the  Rev.  A.  A.  Wood,  D.  D.,  thus 
writes  of  him  in  the  N.  Y.  Evangelist  of  July  19th  : 

Though  the  infirmities  of  years  and  labors  were  upon 
him,  he  engaged  with  his  whole  heart  in  the  scenes  of 
religious  revival  with  which  God  has  recently  favored 
us.  All  seemed  to  feel  that  he  was  doing  his  last  work 
for  the  Master  whose  Gospel  he  preached,  and  whose 
name  he  bore.  There  was  a  new  fervor  in  his  prayers, 
and  a  new  earnestness  in  his  appeals,  as,  tasking  to  the 
utmost  his  failing  strength,  he  came  daily,  and  often 
twice  a  day,  to  lead  our  devotions,  and  to  speak  of  the 
things  of  God, — fervor  and  earnestness  which  gained 
new  intensity  from  the  thought  that  the  time  might 
shortly  come  when  his  voice  would  be  silent  among  us. 
We  cannot  soon  forget  his  impressive  appeals  to  the  un- 
repenting  and  delaying  sinner  to  embrace  at  once  an 
offered  Saviour,  and  to  the  children  of  God  to  rise  to 
the  higher  level  of  their  duties  and  privileges,  and  give 
themselves  with  new  zeal  to  carry  out  God's  great  pur- 
poses in  behalf  of  our  race. 

In  the  later  spring  his  strength  began  to  fail  him. 
We  missed  him  from  the  j^lace  of  daily  prayer,  and  it 
was  soon  found  that,  with  no  apparent  disease,  extreme 
physical  weakness  had  confined  him  to  his  house,  then 
to  his  room,  and  finally  to  his  bed — the  bed  he  w^as 
never  to  leave  till  he  left  the  earth.  But  in  all  these 
days;7-though  there  were  many  and  painful  indications 
that  the  outward  man  was  perishing — there  were  indi- 


134  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

cations  more  marked  that  the  inner  man  was- renewed 
day  by  day.  Never  was  his  intellect  more  vigorous — 
never  his  view  of  God  and  the  great  plan  of  salvation 
clearer — never  his  interest  in  the  triumphs  of  truth  and 
the  cause  of  religion  deeper  or  stronger.  None  of 
those  whose  privilege  it  was  to  be  with  him  in  these 
last  days  can  forget  the  peculiar  calmness  and  serenity 
of  that  dying  bed.  Even  while  he  lingered  with  us, 
his  words  seemed  to  be  those  of  one  not  only  ready  to 
be  offered,  but  of  one  to  whom  the  scenes  of  earth  and 
time  had  already  become  almost  things  of  the  past. 

There  was  once  the  prayer,  so  natural  to  a  mind  like 
his,  which  had  ever  loved  to  grapple  with  the  profound- 
est  themes,  that  God  would  give  him  light.  And  this 
prayer  seemed  to  be  wonderfully  answered,  as  all  clouds 
passed  away,  leaving  him  "with  nothing  further  to 
pray  for,"  as  he  said.  "  God  is  mine,  Christ  is  mine, 
the  Universe  in  mine."  To  him  death  had  lost  all  its 
sting,  the  grave  all  its  gloom,  and  peace,  like  a  river, 
filled  the  soul. 

His  friends  in  the  ministry,  who  gathered  around  his 
bed.  will  ever  have  before  them  the  pale  countenance 
lighted  up  with  unspeakable  joy,  while  his  words  yet 
linger  in  the  ear,  "  Work  for  Christ."         A.  A.  W. 

Geneva,  July  13,  1866. 


The  following  is  a  very  concise  and  accurate  account, 
taken  also  frt)m  the  New  York  Evangelist,  of  the  life- 
labors  and  of  the  last  hours  of  Dr.  Squier,  from  the  pen  of 
Rev.  F.  E.  Cannon,  D.  D.,  a  fellow  resident  of  Geneva  for 


HIS   LAST  DAYS.  135 

many  years,  as  well  as  a  fellow-laborer  in  a  similar  de- 
partment of  Christian  enterprise,  and  a  member  of  the 
same  congregation : — 

"  He  was  widely  known  both  in  the  ecclesiastical  and 
the  literary  world,  having  written  much  for  the  religious 
papers  and  periodicals  on  profound  metaphysical  and 
theological  subjects,  besides  two  volumes  already  pub- 
lished, into  which  a  great  amount  of  strong  argument 
and  thought  is  condensed ;  and  we  are  informed  that 
materials  are  left  in  manuscript,  mostly  prepared  for  the 
press,  sufficient  for  two  more  volumes,  which  in  due 
time  will  be  given  to  the  public. 

"Dr.  Squier  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  oldest  church 
in  the  city  of  Buffalo,  and  was  one  of  three  ministers  to 
constitute  the  Presbytery  of  Buffalo  at  its  organization. 
His  counsel  and  influence  had  much  to  do  in  planting 
and  nurturing  churches  throughout  all  that  district  of 
Western  New  York.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  and  did  much  to  arrange 
its  organization  and  course  of  study.  He  was  the  first 
agent  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  laboring  as  such 
through  all  the  seventeen  westerly  counties  of  this  State, 
founding  and  aiding  feeble  churches  for  seven  years. 

"He  was  the  originator,  founder,  and  proprietor  of  ' 
the  Geneva  Lyceum  for  the  education  of  young  men. 
It  was  mainly  through  his  influence  that  the  Female 
Seminaiy  of  Geneva  was  established,  which  was  for 
many  years  so  popular  and  prosperous  under  Mrs.  Ricord 
and  Miss  Th»rston.  He  assisted  in  founding  and  or- 
ganizing Beloit  College,  and  from  his  own  means  en- 
dowed the  chair  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy, 


136  HIS    LAST  DAYS. 

which  he  occupied  with  honor  for  a  series  of  years. 
These  are  some  of  the  monuments  of  his  life  and  work 
in  this  world.  He  was  the  earnest  friend  of  education, 
both  literary  and  theological,  and  many  who  now  occupy 
prominent  posts,  both  in  civil  life  and  in  the  Gospel 
ministiy,  have  reason  to  venerate  and  bless  his  memory. 

"  For  the  last  three  or  fom*  years,  his  physical  system 
showed  signs  of  exhaustion,  and  gradually,  without 
much  positive  suffering  or  disease,  he  sank  into  the 
arms  of  death.  During  all  this  time  it  was  obvious  to 
his  friends  that  he  was  ripening  for  heaven,  and  as  he 
approached  the  end,  there  was  an  unusual  spiritual  fer- 
vor and  unction  upon  his  heart  and  upon  his  lips.  His 
soul  fed  upon  the  great  doctrines  of  evangelical  truth 
and  the  divine  promises  till  his  faith  became  full  assm*- 
ance.  Without  a  doubt,  or  a  fear,  or  a  cloud,  he  looked 
into  the  broad  future,  which  was  all  radiant  and  glowing 
before  him,  and  longed  to  depart.  It  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble to  conceive  of  a  more  sublime  scene  on  earth  than 
his  death-bed  presented  the  last  few  days  of  his  life. 
With  his  mind  clear  and  active  to  the  last,  and  grasping 
wider  and  wider  \dews  as  the  end  approached,  he  at 
length  exclaimed,  *  God  is  mine,  the  blessed  Saviour  is 
mine,  the  Comforter  is  mine,  the  promises  are  mine, 
heaven  is  mine,  all  things  j^resent  and  to  come  are 
mine.     I  have  nothing  to  ask  or  pray  for.     Let  me  go  !' 

"  Thus  passed  away  this  loved  and  venerated  father  in 
Christ  to  higher  and  nobler  work  in  the  immediate 
presence  of  God.  Stricken  and  bleeding  hearts  are  lefl 
behind,  but  they  bless  God  for  so  signal  a  triumph  of 


IIIS   LAST   DAYS.  137 

grace,  and  cry,  '  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth  good 
in  Thy  sight.'     This  is  not  a  starless  crown." 

F.  E.  C. 

Geneta,  July  13, 1866. 


LETTERS  OF  CONDOLENCE  AND  SYMPATHY. 

1.  From  Rev.  Dr.  Thos.  S.  Hastings,  New  York. 

2.  "        "     Geo.  W.  Wood,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

3.  "        "     W.  Clarke,  D.  D.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

4.  "        "     J.  B.  Condit,  D.  D.,  Auburn  Theological 

Seminaiy. 

5.  "         "      Samuel  M.  Hopkins,  D.  D. 

6.  "         "     W.  B.  Sprague,  D.  D.,  Albany. 

7.  "        "      G.  W.  Heacock,  D.  D.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


From  Rev.  Thos.  S.  Hastings,  D.  D.,  Ncav  York 
City:— 

Midnight,  Monday,  June  25, 1866. 

My  Dear  Aunt  : — The  tidings  came  to-day — uncle 
triumphant,  and  you  calm,  sustained,  Christian :  that 
compensates  me  for  the  trial  of  not  seeing  uncle  again 
in  the  flesh.  It  is  a  real*  grief  to  me  that  I  cannot  be 
with  you  to-morrow,  but  all  my  friends  said  that  it 
would  be  trifling  with  my  health  to  go  and  return  as  in 
the  circumstances  I  would  be  compelled  to  do.  God 
willing,  I  shall  see  you  ere  long,  and  we  can  talk  togeth- 
er of  the  goodness  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the  glories  of  the 
land  of  Beulah.  Meanwhile  we  shall  think  of  you  to- 
morrow as  you  bear  the  precious  dust  to  the  place  of 
burial, — seed  for  the  resmTcction  harvest.  I  know  you 
do  not  need  my  sympathy,  but  I  cannot  help  telling  you 


138  HIS   LAST   DAYS. 

that  my  heart  goes  out  to  you,  and  rejoices  in  the  mer- 
cies that  sweeten  the  bitter  cup,  and  in  the  calmness 
with  which  you  taste  its  dregs.  This  event  brings  up 
years  that  had  been  hidden  a  long  time  in  my  memory  : 
childhood,  youth,  the  beginning  of  my  manhood  and 
my  ministry: — uncle  was  associated  with  all  these  peri- 
ods of  my  life.  It  is  hard  to  realize  that  I  shall  see  and 
hear  him  no  more.  "  Part  of  the  host  have  crossed  the 
flood  and  part  are  crossing  now."  "  "We  are  to  the 
margin  come."  God  grant  that  our  last  end  may  be 
like  his  who  has  just  added  another  voice  to  the  glori- 
ous song.  Fanny  sends  much  love.  I  am  glad  father 
and  mother  and  cousin  Kate  are  with  you, — ^but  more 
than  all  that  the  Comforter  is  with  you.  Love  to  all. 
Your  affectionate  nephew, 

Thos.  S.  Hastings. 


From  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Wood,  D.  D.,  New  York:— 

At  Home,  July  4,  1866. 

Dear  Aunt  Squier  : — I  presume  that  you  now  have  a 
more  vivid  realization  of  the  separation  and  affliction 
involved  in  your  bereavement  than  you  had  in  its  first 
hours.  There  is  usually  an  excitement  of  feeling  at  first, 
which  subsequently  subsides ;  and  then  the  sense  of 
desolation  is  greater  than  during  the  continuance  of  that 
excitement.  When  the  daily  round  of  duties  is  resumed, 
and  friends  and  the  world  are  occupied  with  their  own 
affairs,  leaving  us  more  to  ourselves,  we  miss  the  loved 
one,  and  our  heart  feels  the  anguish  of  its  loss  as  not 
before.     Such  has  been  ever  my  own  experience. 

I  therefore  more  desire  to  talk  with  you  now,  than  I 


HIS   LAST   DAYS.  139 

did  when  your  grief  Avas  assuaged  by  the  special  influ- 
ences that  affected  it  at  first.  I  do  not  doubt  that  you 
have  increasingly  the  consolation  of  that  sympathy 
which  so  infinitely  surpasses  all  that  the  dearest  friends 
can  feel.  That  will  never  fail  you.  The  consolation  of 
it  will  rise  with  every  wave  that  may  threaten  to  go 
over  you.  Your  appreciation  of  your  dear  husband's 
gain,  and  thankfulness  for  his  joy,  will  also  increase 
from  day  to  day.  The  prospect  of  re-union  in  the 
presence  of  Jesus  must  also  become  more  and  more  de- 
lightful ;  and  you  will  have  an  unshaken  confidence  in 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Lord's  dealings  with 
you,  and  a  growing  gi'atitude  for  the  promises  which 
are  your  portion. 

Still,  after  all,  nature  will  feel  the  stroke  which  cuts 
to  the  centre  of  the  heart.  This  must  be  in  order  to  the 
spiritual  benefit  of  the  affliction.  May  grace  abound  to 
you,  and  deepen  the  work  of  sanctification  even  to  its 
perfect  accomplishment ! 

I  was  intensely  interested  in  all  the  details  sent  to  us 
of  the  dying  experience.  What  an  encouragement  does 
it  give  to  our  wavering  faith  in  looking  forward  to  our 
own  departure  !  Such  a  triumph  in  death  was  a  fitting 
close  to  his  life  of  faith.  If  the  same  sensible  joy  of 
victory  should  be  withheld  from  us,  we  may  yet  be  as- 
sured of  the  reality  of  victory.  Why  should  we  dread 
to  die,  when  we  see  how  sweet  and  blessed  a  thing  it  is 
to  the  believer  in  Jesus  ? 

That  intensity  of  love  which  he  manifested  in  his  last 
hours — what  a  revelation  it  gives  of  the  character  of  the 
glorified !     What  a  blessed  world  heaven  must  be ! 


140  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

Who  would  not  wish  to  breathe  its  atmosphere  of  love  ? 
And  how  plainly  we  see  what  is  the  type  of  feeling  after 
which  we  should  now  aspire.  Why  cannot  we  have 
more  of  it  here  ?  With  such  a  Saviour,  such  an  exam- 
ple, such  a  future  to  look  forward  to,  surely  we  ought  to 
be  more  apt  in  learning  the  lesson  which  it  is  the  object 
of  all  discipline  and  all  grace  to  teach  us. 

I  have  not  yet  seen  the  religious  papers  of  this  week, 
but  look  for  a  notice' of  Dr.  Squier's  funeral,  and  his 
last  hours,  in  one  or  more  of  them,  from  the  pen  of  some 
one  in  Geneva.  In  due  time,  doubtless,  a  more  extend- 
ed portraiture  of  him  as  a  minister,  teacher  and  ^\Titer, 
will  be  given.  His  influence  is  by  no  means  to  pass 
away  with  his  mortal  life. 

Yours  affectionately, 

Geo.  W.  Wood. 


From  Rev.  Walter  Clarke,  D.  D.: — 

Buffalo,  June  23d,  1866. 

I  am  Sony,  dear  Mrs.  Squier,  that  I  am  obliged  to  go 
at  six  o'clock  Monday  morning  to  Hudson,  Ohio,  to 
deliver  an  oration  at  their  commencement,  and  from 
there  to  Detroit,  to  assist  in  the  ordination  of  my  son — 
and  that  these  indispensable  engagements  forbid  my  be- 
ing with  you,  as  I  should  otherwise  be  at  the  burial  of 
our  dear  departed  and  honored  friend.  I  was  prepared 
to  hear  of  his  death  by  Dr.  Wood's  letter,  the  contents 
of  which  I  communicated  to  my  jieople.  I  shall  to- 
morrow announce  the  event  from  my  pul23it,  and  ask 
some  of  the  people  to  go  down  to  be  with  you  on 
Tuesday.     I  hope  they  will  go. 


HIS    LAST    DAYS.  141 

Your  husband's  memory  will  be  precious  to  hundreds 
who  knew  and  honored  him.  He  always  made  upon 
me  the  impression  of  one  who  was  full  of  God's  good 
spirit,  who  loved  Christ,  loved  His  church,  loved  and 
enjoyed  His  truth,  and  was  more  alive  on  that  than  on 
any  other  side  of  his  nature. 

Religion,  I  am  sure,  must  have  been  not  a  profession 
only,  but  a  habit  and  a  life  with  him. 

You  are  alone,  and  yet  not  alone.  You  know  too 
well  whom  you  have  believed,  to  fear  desertion  at  this 
time  of  distress.  Jesus  will  come  nearer  to  you  than 
ever.  I  fully  believe  that  he  takes  away  from  us  present 
blessings,  simply  to  make  room  for  larger,  which  he 
cannot  longer  withold  from  bestowing.  How  can  we 
ever  receive  our  inheritance  except  by  losing  the  less 
and  gaining  the  greater  ? 

We  shall  pour  out  our  thanks  for  Dr.  Squier's  memo- 
ry, and  our  prayers  and  sympathies  for  you  in  the  house 
of  God  to-morrow.  The  peace  of  God  which  passeth 
all  understanding  keep  your  heart  and  mind  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

Yours,  in  affectionate  sympathy  and  prayer, 

W.  Clarke. 


From  Rev.  J.  B.  Condit,  D.  D.:— 

Auburn,  June  26,  1866. 

Mrs.  Squier — Dear  Friend  : — I  cannot  withhold 
these  few  words  of  sympathy  in  this  time  of  your  afflic- 
tion. I  should  have  been  present  to-day  in  the  last 
scene,  showing  my  regard  for  your  departed  husband,  if 
I  had  felt  able  to  go.     I  returned  yesterday  from  jour- 


142  HIS   LAST   DAYS. 

neying  and  preaching  through  a  fortnight  past,  quite 
overdone.  I  did  not  give  up  going  to  Geneva  this 
morning  till  nearly  the  last  hour.  I  hope  ere  long  to 
see  you.  Dr.  Squier  has  been  to  me  for  many  yeai's  an 
exemplification  of  the  true  ministerial  character  in  prin- 
ciple and  consistent  example.  I  have  admired  the  con- 
tinuance of  his  interest  to  the  last  in  the  welfare  of  the 
church  and  its  institutions  and  in  revivals  of  religion — 
though  his  age  and  infirmities  might  seem  to  justify  his 
retu'ement.  He  has  served  his  generation  faithfully,  and 
his  works  w^ill  live  after  time. 

Mrs.  Condit  joins  with  me  in  the  expression  of  sym- 
pathy and  remembrance  in  this  day  of  trial. 
I  am,  yours  tnily, 

J.  B.  Condit. 


From  Rev.  S.  M.  Hopkins,  D.  D.;— 

Auburn,  29th  June,  1866. 

My  Dear  Mrs.  Squier  : — When  I  left  home  a  week 
ago  lor  a  short  visit  to  Ohio,  the  last  intelligence  we  had . 
respecting  Dr.  Squier  was  favorable  ;  and  we  hoped  you 
were  to  have  a  respite  at  least  from  the  great  afiliction 
which  has  come  upon  you.  But  we  heard  in  Buffalo  on 
Saturday  of  his  death — some  of  the  particulars,  so  full 
of  comfort  to  you,  and  of  deep  interest  to  all  his  friends, 
I  have  only  heard  since  returning  home  last  night.  I 
knew  that  death  could  have  no  teiTors  to  one  who  had 
lived  so  long  and  habitually  in  an  atmosphere  of  reli- 
gious thought  and  feeling ;  but  it  was  most  interesting 
to  hear  of  the  beautiful  clearness  and  serenity  of  his 
mind  to  the  last,  and  the  triumphant  confidence  with 


HIS   LAST   DAYS.  143 

which  he  committed  himself  to  his  Redeemer.  I  can 
not  but  take  great  satisfaction  in  thinking  not  only  of  his 
personal  blessedness  in  the  presence  of  his  Saviom*,  but 
of  the  delight  with  which  his  active  and  inquuing  mind 
will  contemplate  those  profound  questions  in  regard  to 
the  kingdom  of  God  with  which  he  loved  to  occupy  him- 
self here.  Your  honored  husband  has  left  his  impress 
deep  on  the  history  of  our  church.  His  record  is  a 
noble  one ;  and  I  am  well  assured  that  his  name  and  in- 
fluence will  be  greater  in  coming  times  than  they  have 
been  even  during  his  life.  I  much  regretted  that  my 
absence  prevented  my  attending  the  funeral.  May  God 
bless  and  comfort  you,  is  the  prayer  of  your  sincere  and 
sympathizing  friend, 

Sam'l  M.  Hopkins. 


From  Rev.  W.  B.  Sprague,  D.  D.:— 

Albany,  July  20,  1866. 

My  Dear  Madam  : — It  is  only  within  a  day  or  two 
that  I  have  heard  of  the  death  of  your  excellent  husband, 
and  I  do  not  know  even  now  when  or  under  what  circum- 
stances it  occurred.  My  acquaintance  with  him  runs 
back  to  a  period  perhaps  more  remote  than  you  ai5«  aware 
of  My  first  knowledge  of  him  was,  I  think,  in  the  year 
1819,  when  I  was  returning  from  a  short  visit  to  Cana- 
da, after  having  accepted  a  call  to  settle  as  jjastor  of  the 
church  in  West  Springfield.  As  I  was  riding  on  horse- 
back through  Dr.  Squier's  native  place  (I  think  it  was 
New  Haven)  tow^ards  Middlebuiy,  I  saw  a  gentleman 
standing  by  the  gate  as  I  was  passing  a  certain  house  on 
my  left  hand,  and  I  stopped  to  ask  him  some  question 


144  HIS    LAST   DAYS. 

designed  to  draw  from  him  information  concerning  my 
journey.  I  very  soon  made  the  discoveiy  that  he  was  a 
minister,  and  though  we  were  strangers  when  we  met, 
we  were  scarcely  so  when  we  parted.  I  think  my  next 
meeting  with  him  w^as  at  Buffalo  in  July,  1821,  (1822,) 
a  few  days  after  I  had  taken  my  first  great  lesson  in  the 
school  of  .bereavement.  I  well  remember  with  how 
much  kindness  and  sympathy  he  received  me,  and  one 
consolatory  remark  that  he  made  I  have  always  treasured 
among  my  mofet  cherished  recollections.  I  had  remarked 
to  him  that  it  was  a  source  of  trouble  to  me  that  I  knew 
so  little  of  the  mode  of  the  future  existence  ;  that 
though  I  had  no  doubt  of  the  happiness  of  departed 
saints,  yet  I  wished  to  know  more  of  the  distinctive 
economy  of  that  world  to  which  they  are  admitted. 
His  answer  was  substantially  this : — "  We  see  that  God 
has  so  ordered  things  in  this  world  that  everything 
seems  naturally  adapted  to  our  development  and  gratifi- 
cation— and  as  the  same  Being  has  ordained  the  econ- 
omy of  the  future  world,  why  should  we  not  expect  that 
the  same  characteristic  feature  should  pervade  that,  and 
in  much  higher  perfection,  as  there  will  be  the  absence 
of  all  sin  ?"  The  remark  came  as  a  balm  to  my  wounded 
spirit,  and  it  has  never  ceased  to  be  a  som'ce  of  consola- 
tion to  me.  I  trust  it  may  minister  somewhat  to  the 
calmness  of  your  spirit,  now  that  you  are  placed  in  the 
same  circumstances  that  rendered  it  so  grateful  to  me. 
But  I  am  sm*e  that  you  can  not  want  for  consolation  in 
this  time  of  deep  soitow.  Not  only  are  you  privileged 
to  reflect  that  your  affliction,  in  all  its  circumstances,  has 
been  ordained  by  a  Father's  wisdom  and  love,  but  the 


HIS   LAST.  DAYS.  145 

endearing  relationship  now  dissolved  has  been  continued 
through  an  uncommonly  long  period,  and  while  you 
have  no  doubt  that  your  husband  is  now  a  perfect  per- 
son in  Christ,  rejoicing  among  the  angels,  you  can  not 
but  think  of  the  many  monuments  of  useful  activity 
which  he  has  left  wherever  he  has  sojourned.  And  to 
crown  all,  you  will  not  forget  that  it  will  be  but  a  brief 
period  before  you  may  hope  for  a  reunion  under  circum- 
stances infinitely  more  desirable  than  you  have  ever 
known  upon  earth.  That  you  may  enjoy  the  constant 
presence  of  the  Comforter,  is  the  prayer  of  your  sincere 
fiiend, 

W.  B.  Sprague. 


From  Rev.  Dr.  Heacock,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. : — 

Buffalo,  Aug.  7,  1866. 

My  Dear  Mrs.  Squier  : — I  was  absent  from  home  at 
the  time  of  the  death  of  your  reverend  husband,  and 
learned  nothing  of  the  circumstances  of  his  last  illness 
till  the  return  of  our  friends  from  Auburn,  and  the  pub- 
lication of  those  obituary  notices  in  the  Evangelist. 
How  gracious  was  God  to  him !  tlow  little  like  death, 
in  its  ordinaiy  circumstances,  was  such  a  departure  I 
And  yet  such  a  departure  as  we  might  have  anticipated 
God  would  give  to  His  servant  whose  life  He  had 
blessed  with  so  much  of  usefulness  and  worth.  "  The 
path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light  which  shineth 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 

If  to  know  that  the  lives  of  our  departed  friends 
were  useful  and  honored  in  the  world,  and  that  their 
memories  are  cherished  by  the  good;  if  to  have  wit- 
10 


146  HIS   LAST  DAYS. 

nessed  their  memorably  happy  and  Christian  death — if 
these  are  consolations,  you  have  them,  my  dear  madam, 
in  large  and  precious  measure.  Mom'n  not  a  worthy 
and  godly  life  on  earth  now  transfigured  to  the  glori- 
ous and  immortal  life  of  Heaven.  His  death  has  awak- 
ened in  many  heaits  tender  and  holy  memories  of  for- 
mer years. 

My  dear  mother,  who  gi-eatly  loved  and  honored  your 
husband, — under  whose  ministry  she  was  brought  to 
Christ, — remembers  you  in  your  bereavement  with  con- 
stant affection  and  sympathy,  and  cherishes  most  sacred 
recollections  of  the  Christian  counsels,  labors  and  exam- 
ple of  her  early  pastor.  His  death  I  believe  is  but  add- 
ing a  quickened  tenderness  to  her  own  Christian  expe- 
rience, drawing  her  nearer  to  God — nearer  to  Christ — 
nearer  to  that  Heaven  to  which  so  many  she  has  loved 
have  already  depai-ted. 

I  write  in  great  haste,  and  under  the  pressure  of  a 
great  amount  of  work,  but  could  not  deny  myself  the 
expression  of  the  sympathy  I  feel  for  you,  and  the  rev- 
erence which  I  bore  to  his  life  and  character  and  mem- 
ory. Affectionately  and  truly  yours, 

G.  W.  Heacock. 


P^HT    II. 


LECTURES,  DISCOITRSES, 
ESSAYS  AND  REVIEWS, 

BY  MILES  P.  SQUIEB,  D.  D. 


I. 

TEN   LECTURES 

ON    EUROPEAN    TOPICS. 


LECTURE  I. 

GENEVA  AND  THE  EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE. 

Rail  Roads  are  not  as  numerous  in  Europe  as  in  this 
country.  France  has  but  one,  to  the  southeast  of  Paris, 
branching  south  to  Lyons,  Marseilles  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  more  easterly  to  the  Savoy  and  Italy,  or 
more  easterly  still,  to  Geneva  and  Switzerland.  The 
branch  to  Italy,  though  determined  on,  may  not  be  com- 
pleted for  half  a  score  of  years,  as  a  tunnel  of  from  seven 
to  ten  miles,  under  the  "  St.  Cennis"  pass  of  the  Alps, 
is  yet  to  be  made,  before  reaching  Susa  and  the  Valley 
of  the  Po.  The  last  fifty  miles  of  that  to  Geneva  is 
through  a  quite  mountainous  region ;  but  as  nature  had 
encountered  its  difficulties  by  the  waters  of  the  Rhone 
forcing  their  way  to  the  bosom  of  the  midland  sea,  it 
was  but  fair  that  art  should  try  her  sway,  and  you  bound 
along  under  impending  cliffs,  around  projecting  rocks, 
by  vine-clad  slopes,  perforating  hill  after  hill,  till  the 
Jura  proper  is  run  through  ;  in  a  tunnel  of  four  or  five 
miles,  and  emerging  from  it,  you  breathe  more  freely, 
as  if  inhaling  the  sweet  atmosphere  of  Republican  Swit- 
zerland. 


154         GENEVA   AND   THE    EVANGELICAL   ALLIANCE. 

Geneva  is  one  of  the  most  delightfully  picturesque 
and  beautiful  cities  in  the  world.  The  Jura  range  in 
full  view  encloses  it  on  the  west  and  north,  as  if  to 
guard  it  from  the  incursion  of  barbaric  hosts  in  that 
quarter,  while  the  mountains  of  Savoy  loom  up  near  at 
hand  on  the  south  and  east,  with  only  here  and  there  a 
fissure  and  loojjhole  through  which  to  look  out  ujion  the 
sterner  and  more  commanding  elevations  of  the  ever- 
lasting Alps  beyond  them. 

In  some  of  these  depressions,  and  due  east,  is  seen  Mt. 
Blanc  itself,  the  monarch  of  all,  in  solemn  majesty,  some 
sixty  or  seventy  miles  away,  clad  to  his  feet  with  a  man- 
tle of  white.  You  wonder,  as  you  gaze  upon  it  in  its 
grandeur  from  the  quay  on  the  west  of  the  lake  and 
the  town,  that  it  need  be  so  icy  and  cold  quite  down  to 
your  level  almost,  while  the  heat  of  dog-days  is  resting 
upon  it,  and  you  are  sweltering  in  your  summer  suit. 
There  it  stands  unimpressed  and  unimpressible.  The 
snows  of  a  thousand  winters  have  settled  upon  it,  heed- 
less of  the  changes  elsewhere  that  spring  and  summer, 
seedtime  and  harvest  have  made.  You  must  remem- 
ber that  the  rotundity  of  the  earth  makes  some  difier- 
ence,  at  that  distance,  and  that  after  all,  the  altitude  of 
the  range  and  of  its  peaks  is  immensely  gi-eat  and  would 
be  appreciated  by  one  standing  at  its  base. 

The  town  of  Geneva  is  well  and  compactly  built,  with 
villas,  and  fine  country  seats  planted  on  all  sides  around 
it.  The  old  wall  of  Medieval  history  is  being  picked  in- 
to fragments  and  reconstiiicted  into  massive  blocks  of 
stores  and  dwellings ;  a  sure  tribute  to  modern  gunnery 
or  modern  civilization.     Let  us  hope  the  last,  though 


GENEVA   AND    THE   EVANGELICAL   ALLIANCE.  155 

the  constant  dread  of  the  encroaching  claims  and  as- 
tute diplomacy  of  Napoleon  rather  belies  our  hope. 

The  single  object  of  most  prominence  in  Geneva  is 
the  church  of  "  St.  Pierre,''  where  Calvin  preached,  and 
where  the  Alliance  met.  It  is  a  massive  and  imposing 
pUe,  a  stately  composite  structure  of  huge  pillars  and 
arches,  and  standing  on  a  rising  ground  in  the  centre  of 
the  city ;  is  quite  conspicuous  from  all  parts  of  it.  Cal- 
vin's pulpit  rests  against  a  pillar  in  one  side  of  it,  and 
though  forbidden  to  enter  it  by  a  board  on  the  stair- 
case, there  we  assembled  with  the  "savants"  of  Chris- 
tian Em-ope,  from  day  to  day  in  adjudication  of  the 
great  moral  problems  of  the  age  and  the  future.  The 
registered  membership  of  the  Alliance  at  this  meeting 
was  above  eighteen  hundred,  and  nearly  fourteen  hun- 
dred, exclusive  of  those  from  within  the  Canton  itself, 
besides  a  large  number  more,  who  stopped  on  their 
travels  in  Europe,  to  behold  so  august  and  venerable  an 
assembly,  and  catch  the  inspiration  of  its  meetings. 
There  were  men  of  all  climes  and  races.  America, 
however  inadequately  represented,  was  pleasantly  and 
honorably  recognized;  a  hundred  or  more  from  the 
British  Isles.  Russia,  India,  and  the  cape  of  Good  Hope, 
with  a  sprinkling  of  choice  spirits  from  Italy,  long  dis- 
owned and  dishonored,  but  now  rising  and  regnant  It- 
aly, while  the  great  body  of  members  was  from  the 
central  States  of  Europe,  France,  Germany,  Prussia  and 
Switzerland,  and  a  few  from  Austria.  Many  of  the  best 
scholars  of  the  continent  were  there ;  men  of  rank  and 
position,  clergymen  and  laymen,  authors,  theologians 
and  civilians, — men  from   every   sphere   of  Christian 


156         GENEVA   AND   THE   EVANGELICAL   ALLIANCE. 

truth,  conversant  with  the  past,  intent  on  the  present, 
and  forecasting  the  future;  all  engaged  on  the  giant 
problems  that  had  convened  them. 

I  will  give  you  the  words  of  M.  Adrien  Naville,  Pres- 
ident of  the  French  portion  of  the  Alliance,  and  resident 
at  Geneva,  and  who  became  President  of  the  whole,  in 
his  opening  address  and  note  of  welcome  to  the  meet- 
ing in  allusion  to  this  country : — "  Welcome,  Brethren 
of  America,  who  have  quitted  your  distant  homes  at  a 
solemn  moment.  Our  thoughts  carry  us  without  ceas- 
ing to  the  sorrowful  crisis,  at  which  you  have  arrived. 
The  United  States  are  not  forgotten  in  our  prayers.  Our 
firm  confidence  is-  that  a  country  that  has  done  so  much 
for  the  cause  of  Christ,  can  only  receive  blessing  in  the 
end.  What  thanks  will  the  Christians  of  Europe,  as  of 
America,  render  on  the  day  when  your  noble  country 
will  be  only,  and  everywhere,  the  land  of  freemen !" 

Two  things  deeply  impressed  me  at  the  Alliance :  the 
intense  and  continued  interest  with  which  the  questions 
submitted  were  gi-appled  with  and  discussed,  and  the 
deep  meaning  and  eventual  reach  and  comprehension  of 
the  questions  themselves,  in  their  bearing  on  the  pro- 
gress of  humanity  and  the  cause  of  Christ.  There  they 
sat  from  day  to  day,  with  two,  and  sometimes  three  ses- 
sions a  day,  for  ten  days  consecutively,  the  Sabbath  on- 
ly intervening.  No  diminution  of  interest  was  observ- 
able on  to  the  close.  And  it  was  not  merely  or  mainly 
the  cun*ent  politics  or  diplomacies  of  the  day  that  so 
engrossed  them,  but  the  deeper  problems  of  truth  which 
underlie  the  present  and  the  future,  and  which  yet  are 
to  upheave  society  and  reconstruct  the  institutions  and 


GENEVA   AND   THE   EVANGELICAL   ALLIANCE.  157 

destinies  of  men.  The  greatest  weight  on  Europe  and 
on  intelligent  and  free  mind  there,  is  the  Papacy,  and 
the  civil  corporations  that  are  interchangeably  pledged 
to  it  and  by  it.  Romanism  rests  like  a  pall  on  the  as- 
pirations of  free  thought  on  the  continent,  and  absorbs 
very  much  the  attention  of  the  wise  and  the  good,  and 
when  Dr.  Merle  D'  Aubigne  proposed  in  the  conference 
that  the  next  meeting  should  be  at  Ro'tne,  it  was  like  a 
clap  of  thunder,  and  filled  the  heavens  with  one  univer- 
sal note  of  surprise,  gratulation  and  joy. 

The  infidelity  of  Germany,  its  causes  and  cure,  the 
poorer  classes  in  France,  oppressed  and  uprising  Italy, 
Christian  aid  to  Turkey  and  the  East,  the  duty  of  Eng- 
land to  her  colonies,  the  present  crisis  m  America,  the 
subject  of  revivals  of  religion  and  their  progress  and 
future,  and  the  cause  of  Christ  as  connected  with  these 
and  kindred  topics,  came  in  each  for  a  share  of  atten- 
tion ;  but  the  incubus,  the  oppressions,  the  night-mare 
of  Romanism  was  by  eminence  the  great  absorbing 
theme. 

The  beginning  of  the  end  cropped  out  at  some  points, 
perhaps,  and  Dr.  Baird  told  them  how  Ave  were  getting 
on  with  the  monster  in  this  country  in  his  appointed 
reading  on  that  subject,  and  resolving  ourselves  into 
a  more  intelligent  Christianity  and  taking  to  some  ex- 
tent the  Catholic  mind  with  us  at  this  point ;  but  the  la- 
bor of  all  minds  was  here,  and  the  deep  convictions  of 
all  centred  on  the  truth  and  dominant  fact  that  Rome 
and  her  dependencies  are  the  gi-eat  impediment  to  the 
world's  progress,  and  must  in  Providence  be  removed 
out  of  the  way.     To  aid  them  against  the  oppressions 


158  GENEVA  AND   THE   EVANGELICAL   ALLIANCE. 

of  both  church  and  State  in  Europe,  a  wishful  and  ex- 
pectant eye  was  turned  to  this  country  and  our  free  in- 
stitutions of  religion  and  government. 


AMERICAN   MEETING.  159 


LECTURE  II. 

EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE— AMERICAN  MEETING. 

Another  subject  interested  the  Alliance,  in  intimate 
connection  with  that  referred  to  in  my  last  paper.  It 
was  the  cause  oi  freedom  generally, — freedom  of  thought, 
of  person  and  condition.  It  rises  there  in  the  desire  for 
religious  freedom,  and  has  an  intensity,  of  which  we,  in 
this  country,  can  scarcely  conceive.  No  slavery  in  form 
exists  in  the  European  States,  and  no  one  doubts  the 
right  of  all  to  civil  liberty.  The  tendencies  in  that  di- 
rection are  quite  considerable  on  the  continent,  and  they 
are  getting  stronger  continually.  But  giant  impedi- 
ments are  yet  in  the  way.  A  stereotyped  papacy,  with 
its  ramifications  everywhere  almost,  and  its  doctrine  of 
infallibility  and  exclusiveness  is  the  first  in  order,  and 
next  are  the  civil  governments  that  are  connected  with 
and  dependent  on  Romanism.  This  trammels  the  pub- 
lic mind  and  hood-winks  the  people,  and  is  a  unit  in  its 
influence  on  both  sides  of  the  Alps.  It  is  in  concerted  ■ 
league  against  religious  liberty  and  free  thought  gener- 
ally, and  holds  largely  in  check  the  civil  power.  Napo- 
leon III.  finds  it  too  much  for  him  as  yet  in  his  long 
cherished  plans  for  the  liberation  of  Italy.  He  is  "  bi- 
ding his  time," — waiting  for  "  the  pear  to  get  ripe,"  and 
holding  the  more  ardent  and  interested  cabinet  of  Tu- 
rin at  bay,  till  the  best  time  shall  arrive.     Other  wars 


160  AMERICAN   MEETING. 

may  come  and  other  complications  ensue,  before  the 
cause  of  freedom  shall  be  successful  in  Europe.  In  the 
mean  time  it  has  ardent  friends  and  advocates  all 
through  the  masses,  and  among  the  more  intelligent 
and  evangelical  of  the  higher  orders  of  society.  The 
scholars  of  the  continent  are  intensely  alive  to  this 
cause,  and  eager  to  catch  the  first  note  or  sign  of  pro- 
gress in  its  behalf 

Here  was  the  key-note  of  interest  at  the  Alliance,  in 
respect  to  the  American  struggle.  It  was  deemed  a 
great  anomaly  that  a  system  of  organized  slavery  should 
yet  linger  on  this  continent  and  especially  in  the  United 
States.  The  first  question  on  every  hand  was,  "  What 
will  be  the  efiect  of  this  war  on  slavery  f  "  Is  the 
North  fighting  in  the  cause  of  freedom  ?"  "  Will  the 
slaves  be  set  free  ?"  The  interest  in  the  whole  question 
of  the  war  centered  here.  African  slavery  was  not  only 
deemed  a  dark  feature,  an  unutterable  repulsion  in 
American  institutions,  but  its  giving  up  was  deemed 
essential  to  the  progress  of  humanity  : — it  was  part  of  a 
whole  in  which  all  the  world  was  interested.  Hence 
the  inquiry  for  the  American  meeting  at  the  "  Alliance," 
and  the  desire  that  those  fresh  from  the  scene  of  strife 
should  enlighten  them  on  the  subject.  The  meeting 
was  one  of  great  interest.  The  Chevalier  Guyot,  who 
is  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  but  long  a  resident  in  America, 
and  extensively  and  reputably  known  in  both  hemis- 
pheres from  his  works  on  physical  geography  and  other- 
wise, was  made  chairman  :  the  President  of  the  Alliance 
general,  sitting  aside  on  the  occasion.  The  meeting  was 
constituted  with  prayer  by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Baptiste 


AMERICAN   MEETING.  161 

Noel,  of  London.  This  was  fei-vent  and  appropriate, 
being  almost  wholly  in  relation  to  America  and  the  war, 
and  deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  views  of  the  North. 
The  chairman  followed  in  an  opening  address,  which, 
too,  was  patriotic  and  hopeful.  To  this  succeeded  an 
addi-ess  by  Dr.  Baird,  of  New  York,  my  companion  in 
travel,  on  the  influence  of  free  institutions  on  Roman- 
ism, as  shown  in  the  progress  of  events  in  this  country. 
The  Doctor's  method  was  happy  and  exhaustive  of  his 
subject.  It  showed  America  to  be  far  in  advance  of 
Europe  on  the  Roman  question,  and  that  we  are  past 
material  danger  from  this  source,  while  she  is  yet  labor- 
ing in  the  heat  of  the  conflict. 

A  few  moments  were  then  given,  by  special  request, 
to  Dr.  Merle  D'Aubigne,  who  spoke  with  animation  and 
hope  for  America,  and  for  an  issue  to  the  struggle  that . 
should  be  favorable  to  the  cause  of  humanity  and  free- 
dom My  own  name  had  been  announced  for  the  next 
address.  I  was  somewhat  a  stranger  on  that  side  of  the 
water  and  Dr.  B.  took  occasion,  on  introducing  me,  to 
read  my  commission  to  the  Alliance,  from  my  Presby- 
teiy  and  home,  in  Geneva,  N.  Y.  As  it  was  somewhat 
characteristic,  and  created  quite  a  sensation  in  the  As- 
sembly, I  ventm-e  to  copy  it  and  to  accept  meekly  the 
appreciative  personalities  it  imports  : — 

"  Geneva  in  the  New  World,  to  Geneva  in  the  Old 
World,  sendeth  greeting,  and  to  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance meeting  there : — 

"  We  are  named  for  you  and  are  situated  by  a  lake 
like  yours,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  region  rich  and  pros- 
11 


162  AMERICAN   MEETING. 

perous,  and  of  a  people  resolved,  in  God's  name,  to  be 
intelligent  and  free. 

"  Our  brother,  the  Rev.  Miles  P.  Squier,  D.  D.,  whom 
we  send  to  you,  is  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ge- 
neva, here,  and  is  the  member  whose  name  has  longest 
been  enrolled  of  any,  on  the  books  of  the  Presbytery, 
now  among  the  living,  he  having  been  ordained  to  the 
work  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  by  this  body,  and  installed 
Bishop  ot  the  first  Presbyterian  congregation  of  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  in  May,  1816.  He  has  devoted  himself  much  to 
the  cause  of  education  in  the  west,  and  is  now  Professor 
of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Science  in  Beloit  College,  in  the 
State  of  Wisconsin. 

"  Any  attentions  of  Christian  courtesy  and  kindness 
to  him  from  the  meeting,  will  be  gi-atefuUy  acknowl- 
edged and  reciprocated,  as  among  the  tokens  of  that 
Divine  fellowship  which  unites  us  in  common  bonds  of 
love  to  Him  and  His  cause  who  is  the  one  common 
Lord  of  all." 

This  paper  was  signed  by  most  of  the  members  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Geneva  and  by  the  Pastor  and  Eldership 
of  the  congregation  of  Geneva,  and  was  received  with 
marked  approbation  by  the  Alliance.  Judging  that  at 
least  a  modest  word  was  demanded  by  me,  I  replied  as 
follows : — 

"I  thank  you  for  the  gratulations  of  the  hour,  and 
shall  bear  home  with  me  to  the  distant  and  broad  land 
of  the  west  grateful  memories  of  '  Geneva'  in  the  Old 
World,  that  though  she  is  slender  in  physical  dimen- 
sions and  has  colossal  arms  around  her,  she  is  large  of 
heart,  rich  in  historical  associations,   in  intellect  and 


AMERICAN   MEETING.  163 

character,  and  in  a  high  Christian  civilization,  and  not 
unmindful  of  the  stranger  within  her  gates." 

To  this  succeeded  my  address  on  the  American  Ques- 
tion, which  is  published  in  the  English  volume  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Alliance,  and  in  the  New  York  Ob- 
server of  December  19th,  1861,  on  this  side  of  the 
water,  and  which  is  as  follows,  being  limited  to  a  ten 
minutes'  speech,  by  the  number  to  address  the  meeting 
and  the  necessity  of  but  a  single  meeting  for  America : — 

ADDRESS. 

"  African  Slavery  in  the  American  States  was  to  them 
the  bequest  of  past  generations.  It  was  accepted  in 
our  country  when  the  slave  trade  was  everywhere  held 
as  a  legitimate  commerce,  and  was  shared  in  by  the 
ships  of  all  Christendom.  John  Newton  wrote  his 
Cardiphonia  mostly  on  the  African  coast,  and  when  a 
dealer  in  slaves  there  ;  and  England,  with  her  share  of 
the  cariying  trade  of  the  world,  trafficked  in  slaves  for 
forty  years  after  our  Declaration  of  Independence.  All 
the  original  States  of  the  American  Union  were  once 
slave  States ;  now  a  majority  of  them  are  free  States, 
and  in  becoming  so,  have  pointed  out  the  way  for  the 
remainder  to  follow,  and  suggested  the  only  legitimate 
and  becoming  method  in  which  the  great  problem  of 
slavery  in  our  country  can  be  solved.  That  slavery  was 
to  be  but  temporary  among  us,  and  did  conflict  with 
the  principles  and  policy  and  best  interests  of  the 
American  people,  was  the  doctrine  of  the  fathers  and 
founders  of  the  Republic ; — of  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  as  well  as  of  Franklin  and  Adams,  and  others 
both  North  and  South.     Hence  the  word  slave,  or  slav- 


164  AMERICAN   MEETING. 

ery,  is  not  found  in  the  Constitution,  and  the  subject  is 
referred  to  only  by  circumlocution  and  in  ambiguous 
phraseology,  and  in  the  hope  that  the  whole  subject 
matter  involved  would  become  obsolete  and  pass  from 
the  recollections  of  men.  This  doctrine  and  claim  were 
imposed  on  us  in  om-  o^ti  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  are  to  this  day  conceded  and  adhered  to  at  the 
North,  and  presented  by  it  in  all  constitutional  ways  to 
the  consideration  and  acceptance  of  the  South.  But  in 
the  South  a  neiv  doctrine  has  sprung  up.  It  is  this : — 
that  slavery,  the  subjection  of  a  servile  race  by  the  dom- 
inant one  of  a  countiy,  is  essential  to  the  highest  type 
of  a  Christian  civilization,  and  should  be  perpetual. 

"The  antagonism  in  our  countiy  is  then  becoming 
one  of  ideas  as  well  as  of  supposed  interests.  In  the 
meantime  the  North,  with  its  free  institutions  and  gen- 
eral intelligence  and  enterprise,  is  outgrowing  the  South 
in  population  and  material  resources,  and  can  command 
its  positions  and  policy  at  the  ballot-box.  The  South, 
foreseeing  this,  have  risen  against  it  and  inaugurated 
the  war  ;  and  Europe  and  the  civilized  world  may  know, 
as  well  first  as  last,  that  the  effort  to  perpetuate  and 
nationalize  Afi'ican  slaveiy  on  the  American  continent, 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  our  present  trouble  ; — that 
while  the  old  world  is  struggling  for  freedom — Italy 
becoming  a  nation,  and  the  Czar  liberating  his  serfs  by 
millions,  there  is  in  America  a  new  effort  to  clinch  the 
chain  of  the  slave,  and  to  initiate  and  establish  the  insti- 
tutions of  a  country  on  the  principle  of  the  permanent 
subjection  of  a  servile  race. 

"  The  North  is  honest  and  increasingly  united  in  its 


AMERICAN   MEETING.  165 

adhesion  to  the  doctrine  of  the  founders  of  the  Repub- 
lic, in  this  matter,  and  accepts  a  policy,  which  all  history- 
shows  to  be  essential  to  the  best  material,  social  and 
spiritual  interests  and  progress  of  the  whole  land. 
Slavery  is  no  more  needful  there  than  elsewhere,  either 
at  the  South  or  North.  Even  now  the  best  slave-work 
in  the  South  is  on  the  principle  and  is  sought  in  the 
element  of  freedom.  It  is  through  stints  and  patches  of 
work  to  the  laborer,  wherever  this  can  be  done,  and  his 
thus  buying  his  time  by  extra  and  free  exertion  to  be 
his  own  man,  and  work  for  himself,  and  do  as  he  pleases, 
for  the  time  that  he  gains. 

"And  a  volume  of  truth  lies  in  this  principle  thus 
acted  on.  It  is  universal  as  humanity,  and  its  instruc- 
tion, -with  the  increasing  light  of  the  future,  may,  and 
must  be  taken,  to  every  latitude  and  longitude  on  the 
globe.  An  opposite  course  is  short-sighted  and  suicidal, 
and  rests  on  a  basis  inherently  false  and  ruinous.  The 
world  will  be  free.  This  is  the  ordinance  of  God  and 
the  inheritance  of  man.  It  is  now  too  late  to  enslave  a 
race,  (to  say  nothing  of  the  verdict  of  the  past,)  and  to 
build  up  a  government  on  the  principle  of  the  protection 
and  perpetuity  of  human  bondage.  It  is  a  move  back- 
ward on  the  dial  of  time.  Providence  will  blow  upon 
it ; — 'the  stars  in  their  coursed  will  fight  against  it.' 

"  The  South  in  this  struggle  have  really  no  ground  of 
complaint  against  their  brethren  of  the  Free  States, 
either  within  the  Constitution  or  outside  of  it.  True, 
they  voted  in  November  last,  as  they  had  a  right  to. 
They  have  been   somewhat  reluctant  to  execute  the 


166  AMERICAN   MEETING. 

'  Fugitive  Slave  Law'  as  impinging  against  a  '  higher 
law,'  written  on  the  conscience,  and  they  have  declined 
to  nationalize  slavery.  And  what  less  could  they  do  in 
this  noon  of  the  nineteenth  centuiy  of  light  and  grace  ? 
And  yet  the  South  may  possibly  gain  in  this  war  what 
she  want§.  But  in  that  case  she  will  inevitably  gain, 
too,  what  she  does  not  want.  She  will  vacate  the  con- 
stitutional protection  of  the  North,  and  secure  its  con- 
firmed and  open  hostility  against  that  cherished  institu- 
tion, which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  strife,  and  find 
a  Canada  on  Mason  and  Dixon  s  line.  She  Avill  gain,  too? 
if  we  mistake  not,  the  scorn  of  Europe  and  the  civilized 
world.  She  will  fan  afresh  the  conviction  of  Ireedom, 
and  the  desire  for  it,  in  her  own  subject  race,  who  will 
not  be  slow,  from  her  example,  to  learn  that  the  '  white 
man  has  no  rights  that  the  black  man  is  bound  to 
respect.'  Humanity  is  everywhere  instinct  with  the 
idea  of  freedom,  fearless  of  consequences.  And  thus 
another  alternative  in  the  war  inay  he  that  some  incij)ient 
reverses  may  wake  up  the  fanaticism  of  the  North,  and 
that  she  will  come  down  like  an  avalanche  on  the  South, 
vn\h  or  without  the  Constitution,  'proclaiming  liberty 
to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  doors  to 
them  that  are  bound,'  and  inevitably  lighting  the  fires 
of  servile  insurrection,  all  the  way  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Fearful  as  this  would  be,  it  may  not  be  forgotten  that  it 
is  a  liability  in  this  war.  Think  of  St.  Domingo,  and 
look  out  for  unspeakable  horrors  if  this  shall  be  the 
issue.  To  fight  the  North  may  not  be  the  sorest  of 
troubles  to  the  South.  When  the  fighting  is  over  and 
the  chivalry  expended,  her  people  will  find  themselves 


AMERICAN   MEETING.  167 

on  the  volcano  still,  which  has  always  been  so  fearful  in 
their  view.  They  will  only  have  gained  the  boon  of 
providing  alone  against  it,  unassisted  by  their  connection 
with  the  free  States,  and  divested  of  their  association 
with  them,  which  has  hitherto  rendered  their  own  posi- 
tion, as  Slave  States,  respectable.  They  are  by  their 
own  acknowledgement  but  a  confederation  of  States. 
Local  views  or  local  troubles  and  aspirations,  may  divide 
them  again  and  again,  and  how  soon  they  will  be  like 
Mexico  none  can  tell.  Even  now  there  is  trouble  in 
this  direction,  and  Gov.  Brown,  of  Georgia,  has  dis- 
banded troops,  organized  within  his  jurisdiction,  by  the 
Confederate  government,  as  thereby  interfering  with  his 
views  of  State  sovereignty.  Civil  powers  may  feel 
obliged  to  regard  only  the  de  facto  principle,  but  we  ask 
the  Christian  world  and  Christian  men  to  grasp  the 
moral  elements  of  this  conflict,  and  give  their  suffrage 
and  then*  prayers  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  freedom, 
humanity  and  the  right.  Look  at  the  monster  idea  of 
now  organizing  a  government  in  the  Western  hemis- 
phere, in  the  interest  and  for  the  sake  of  human  slavery  I 
With  it  would  inevitably  come  the  foreign  slave  trade, 
and  it  will  then  cost  England  more  to  keep  down  that 
trade  than  to  support  all  her  own  poor  from  a  common 
treasuiy,  until  cotton  will  grow  somewhere  else  than  in 
the  Gulf  States.  The  establishment  of  such  a  power 
can  but  be  an  apple  of  discord — yea,  a  rock  of  offence 
to  the  nations.  Better  let  all  the  Garibaldis  of  Europe 
come  over  than  witness  such  a  thing.  Shall  we  have 
the  slave  trade  in  America,  when  all  the  world  beside 
scorn  the  traffic  ?    Is  human  flesh  at  a  discount  there  ? 


168  AaiERICAN   MEETING. 

Shall  the  slave  trade  be  piracy  anywhere  else,  and  yet  be 
a  legitmiate  and  honorable  commerce 

In  that  land  of  the  free 

And  home  of  the  brave? 

Shall  the  nations  combine  against  it  on  the  high  seas,  in 
Italy,  in  Hungary,  in  Poland,  in  Turkey  even  and  Mex- 
ico, and  yet  tolerate  and  sustain  it  there  ?  Tell  it  not 
in  Gath. 

"  No !  this  must  not  be ;  and  we  can  hardly  doubt 
the  eventual  issue  of  the  struggle  now  going  on  in  that 
land.  Providence  demands  that  it  be  in  the  interest  of 
humanity,  of  freedom  and  the  cause  of  God ;  that  when 
sufficiently  baptized  in  blood,  we  shall  come  forth  from 
the  ordeal  a  free  and  united  people,  and  better  than  ever 
qualified  to  fulfill  our  mission  of  mercy  in  behalf  of  other 
peoples  and  nations  of  the  world." 

The  rendering  of  the  Address  was  attended  with  un- 
expected marks  of  approbation  on  the  part  of  the  meet- 
ing, and  at  its  close.  Dr.  Urwick,  of  Dublin,  Ireland,  in 
a  speech  sufficiently  laudatory  of  the  address,  moved 
that  it  be  printed  forthwith  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Alliance  and  circulated  over  the  world.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  others  in  the  same  strain,  but  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  American  delegation  themselves,  it  was 
thought  best  that  this  paper  should  follow  the  usual 
course  with  others,  read  before  the  body. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Kerr,  of  Rockford,  111.,  then  read  a  pa- 
per on  the  "  characteristics  of  North  Western  mind,  in 
America  and  its  attitude  in  relation  to  our  present  strug- 
gle." Brief  addresses  were  also  made  by  Rev.  IVIr. 
Morrison,  late  of  India,  and  Dr.  Sa^vtell  of  IIavi*e  in 


AMERICAN   MEETING.  169 

France,  and  the  meeting  was  closed  by  the  Pastor  Fisch, 
of  Paris,  with  a  very  fervent  and  appropriate  prayer 
for  America  and  freedom,  and  the  right  and  the  success 
of  all  engaged  therefor. 

But  the  English,  led  ofl'  by  Sir  Calling  Eardly  and 
others,  requested  to  hear  more  from  America,  and  at 
their  instance  a  second  meeting  was  appointed  for  Mon- 
day following.  At  that  meeting  explanations  were  giv- 
en, and  questions  answered  by  the  delegation,  and  pa- 
pers read  by  Rev.  Mr.  Priest,  of  New  Jersey,  and  Rev. 
Baptiste  Noel,  of  London,  and  a  resolution  submitted 
for  the  action  of  the  Alliance  in  respect  to  America. 
This,  with  some  lenlargement,  was  adopted  by  the  body 
in  general  meeting,  and  has  been  extensively  published 
both  in  Europe  and  in  this  country. 

A  special  interest  was  thus  thrown  into  the  Ameri- 
can meeting,  by  introducing  the  rife  question  of  the 
day,  and  it  was  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  most  spinted 
and  edifying  which  occuiTcd  in  the  course  of  the  whole 
conference.  Some  of  the  American  delegation  before- 
hand doubted  the  wisdom  of  bringing  out  the  question, 
but  all  acquiesced  in  this,  in  view  of  the  cheerful  and 
happy  discussion  of  it  and  of  the  edifying  result,  to 
which  by  common  consent  we  came. 

The  American  reprint  of  the  address  embraced  in 
this  paj^er,  has  made  it  the  subject  of  some  comment 
and  criticism.  But  in  behalf  of  the  address  as  given, 
the  following  suggestions  may  be  made : — 

1st. — Limit  of  time  forbade  expansion.  It  could  con- 
tain but  the  seeds  of  things.  It  could  but  strike  at 
some  first  principles  of  thought  as  connected  with  the 


170  AMERICAN   MEETING. 

subject,  and  touch  on  some  of  those  elements  of  truth 
and  historic  fact,  that  should  indicate  its  nature  and 
bearing.  These  were  of  necessity  referred  to  in  the 
fewest  and  briefest  terms,  and  for  the  single  pm*pose  of 
showing  where  lay  the  great  moral  of  the  struggle  now 
in  progi'ess  between  the  North  and  the  South  of  this 
land. 

2d. — The  stand-point  of  the  Addi-ess  was  not  in 
America,  but  in  Europe.  It  was  at  the  centre  of  the 
Old  World,  not  in  the  New,  and  at  a  confluence  of  na- 
tions, who  looked  on  us  from  afar,  and  where  subjects 
were  discussed  in  "  thesis."  Underlying  principles  were 
wanted  there — the  germ,  the  root,  the  moral  issue,  the 
historic  gi'owth,  and  moral  tendencies  of  the  matter  in 
hand,  and  without  the  many  incidental  and  affiliated 
questions  which  attach  to  it  in  this  country.  And  in 
stating  these  central  elements  and  aspects  of  the  subject, 
and  in  pointing  to  its  probable,  if  not  inevitable  results? 
I  am  happy  in  seeing  myself  veiified  by  all  who  have 
written  upon  it  since. 

3d. — My  object  was  to  secure  the  sympathy  and  moral 
support  of  Christian  Europe  for  us,  and  in  behalf  of  the 
right  in  this  strife. 

Europe  was  full  of  demagogues  from  the  South,  en- 
deavoring to  prejudice  the  public  mind  against  us. 
They  had  found  their  way  into  the  columns  of  the  lead- 
ing journals  of  France  and  England.  The  "  Tunes," 
of  London,  and  kindred  papers  there,  were  full  of  per- 
versions of  the  truth  and  vituperations  of  the  North, 


AMERICAN   MEETING.  171 

and  "Galignani's  Messenger,"  and  other  prints  at  Paris, 
but  too  faithfully  and  constantly  copied  their  foulest 
aspersions  and  most  malignant  attacks.  So  considerable 
and  disastrous  was  this  influence,  that  our  minister  at 
Tuiin,  Mr.  Marsh,  and  also  Mr.  Dayton,  our  minister  at 
Paris,  often  spoke  of  and  deplored  it,  in  our  conversa- 
tions with  them ;  and  they  were  quite  urgent,  that  in 
visiting  England,  we  should  devote  ourselves  to  a  mis- 
sion of  mercy,  to  endeavor  to  counteract  these  tenden- 
cies, and  disabuse  the  minds  of  our  great  cousins  there 
in  this  respect.  This  in  other  circumstances  I  would 
not  have  been  slow  to  do.  And  it  was  in  this  state  of 
things  in  Europe,  and  with  the  inquiiy  on  eveiy  hand — 
"  Are  these  things  so  f  that  I  had  the  ears  of  its 
"  savants''  for  a  few  brief  moments,  to  listen  to  my 
story.  I  aimed  at  the  "  morale''  of  the  subject.  I  would 
exert  some  influence  on  their  minds  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. I  would  gain  their  Christian  conscience  and 
secure  their  benevolent  aspirations  and  prayer  to  God  in 
our  behalf,  and  I  could  but  rejoice  in  the  cordial  sym- 
pathy and  heai-ty  gratulations  of  the  meeting,  and  in 
securing  so  entirely  the  expression  of  my  views,  in  the 
paper  of  Christian  kindness,  condolence  and  afiectionate 
recognition,  and  interest  and  call  for  prayer,  which  was 
sent  out  synchronously  with  our  own  national  proclama- 
tion for  fasting  and  prayer,  and  for  the  guidance  and 
harmony  of  the  Christian  world  in  this  thing. 

It  was  to  me  a  glad  hour.  I  rejoiced  to  see  the  pulse 
of  the  good  and  great  men  before  me,  so  ready  and 
strong  in  the  right  direction,  and  could  but  feel  that  the 
results  of  that  hour,  were  worth  the  voyage  of  the  At- 


172  AMERICAN   MEETING. 

lantic,  and  all  the  perils  of  foreign  travel,  to  one  who 
had  akeady  entered  on  that  seventieth  yeai*  which  is  set 
down  as  man's  utmost  privilege  of  life  on  earth. 


Italy's  regeneration.  173 


LECTURE  III. 

THE  SOURCE  OP  ITALY'S  REGENERATION. 

The  Alps  separate  Italy  from  the  rest  of  Continental 
Europe.  That  must  have  been  a  mighty  upheaval  of 
nature  which  brought  them  forth,  and  pointed,  with  so 
much  shai'pness  and  hight  and  magnificence,  that  ocean 
of  mountains,  to  the  skies. 

Over  these,  from  France,  Geneva  and  the  Danube,  are 
several  "passes,"  among  which  the  Splugen,  the  Sim- 
plon  and  the  St.  Cenis  are  the  most  known.  The  last 
rises  to  an  elevation  of  seven  thousand  feet  above  the 
neighboring  sea,  and  to  about  the  level  of  "  eternal  snow." 
At  its  utmost  hight  you  pass  out  of  France  into  Italy, 
and  sink  by  one  continued  descent  to  the  valley  of  the 
Po,  at  Suza,  and  strike  one  of  the  confluents  of  the 
main  river.  In  this  valley,  and  thirty  miles  away  to  the 
east  and  south,  Turin  is  seated,  the  present  capital  of 
the  new  kingdom  of  Italy.  This  is  the  finest  valley  and 
river  of  the  country,  spreading  wider  and  larger  in  their 
onward  course  at  the  southerly  base  of  the  Alps,  to  the 
Gulf  of  Venice,  the  Adriatic  of  the  ancients.  Here  is 
that  stately  quadrilateral  of  fortified  cities,  held  yet  un- 
der the  hated  sway  of  Austria.  Here  is  Alessandria  and 
Solferino,  and  here,  too,  unquestionably,  is  to  break  out 
the  next  war  in  Europe,  and  commence  the  struggle 
that  shall  not  enfranchise  Italy  only,  and  Hungary,  but 


174  Italy's  regeneration. 

Poland  also,  it  may  be,  and  reduce  to  its  proper  dimen- 
sions as  a  German  state  the  nationality  of  Austria  and 
the  Hapsbm-ghs. 

Italy  has  been  considered  the  basest  of  kingdoms. 
Haughty  diplomats  have  gloried  over  it,  as  being  mere- 
ly "a  geographical  expression."  She  has  been  the  foot- 
ball of  empires,  the  mere  dice  of  kings.  Governed  by 
priestcraft,  emanating  from  "infallible"  Rome,  she  has 
been  but  the  small  change  of  the  Pope,  in  lording  it  over 
the  nations.  She  will  be  so  no  more.  The  future  of 
Italy  is  most  hopeful.  All  will  not  be  done  in  a  day, 
for  centm'ies  of  misrule  have  left  then*  impress  on  the 
people.  Ages  of  superstition  have  crushed  them.  Ab- 
solutism in  church  and  State  has  oppressed  both  body 
and  soul,  and  well  nigh  taken  the  life  of  both. 

But  those  are  genial  skies.  There  is  a  deep  liquid 
azure  in  them,  and  a  poetic  richness,  as  well  as  historic 
significance  to  every  hill  and  valley,  and  woodland  and 
stream,  thaf  have  begotten  a  noble  people,  and  which 
will  help  to  make  this  the  glory  of  all  lands.  Here  sci- 
ence, learning  and  the  arts  have  flourished.  It  is  the 
land  of  poetry  and  song.  Immortal  Rome  is  here.  All 
is  classic  gi-ound.  No  education  is  complete  without 
the  study  of  its  authors.  It  has  had  the  moulding  of 
mind  ever  since  Cicero  stood  in  the  Senate  or  Virgil 
struck  his  lyre.  In  medieval  periods,  it  embraced  large- 
ly the  research  and  erudition  of  Christendom,  and  its 
men  of  this  day  have  shown  themselves  to  be  men  of 
strength  with  the  pen  as  well  as  the  sword.  Their  State 
papers  in  that  late  ineflectual  struggle  for  freedom, 
when  the  Pope  fled  to  Gaeta,  and  the  world  began  to     | 


Italy's  regeneration.  175 

hope  for  them,  were  better  than  those  of  France  in  her 
greatest  efforts  to  be  free,  and  more  fully  challenged  the 
sympathy  and  moral  support  of  mankind.  » 

Cavour  was  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  in  Europe. 
In  most  difficult  circumstances,  he  brought  up  the  king- 
dom of  Victor  Emanuel  to  an  acknowledged  rank 
among  the  first-class  Powers  of  the  Continent.  Aus- 
tria, the  Pope,  the  King  of  Naples,  and  the  Dukes  and 
Duchesses  of  Central  Italy,  were  all  against  him.  The 
Catholic  question  was  in  his  way,  and  the  temporalities 
of  St.  Peter.  He  needed  great  wisdom  to  secure  the 
effectual  though  tardy  support  of  Napoleon,  and  to 
check  the  impetuosity  of  Garibaldi.  He  took  large 
views  of  Italian  policy.  His  motto  was  '^  Festina  lenter 
He  knew  that  ages  of  degradation  could  not  be  repaired 
at  once,  or  distinct  nationalities  be  made  to  coalesce  in- 
to one,  by  a  word.  He  was  smitten  down  in  the  midst 
of  his  career,  a  victim  to  his  anxiety  and  overwork ;  but 
he  will  long  be  hailed  as  the  restorer  of  Italy,  and  his 
name  go  down  to  the  future  as  one  of  the  greatest  of 
her  sons. 

Cavour  was  succeeded  by  Rlcasoli  in  the  premiership 
of  the  Court  of  Turin.  In  some  respects  he  is  a  better 
man  for  the  post  than  his  predecessor.  If  the  one  was 
a  statesman,  the  other  is  more  than  that.  If  not  de- 
cidedly a  religious  man,  he  counts  much  on  the  moral 
and  religious  element  in  securing  the  social,  civil  and 
political  regeneration  of  his  people.  He  may  be  by 
profession  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  he  is  for  free  thou^t 
and  general  education.  He  is  the  patron  of  efforts  to 
enlighten  and  evangelize  the  people,  and  would  seek 


176  Italy's  regeneration. 

their  elevation  and  establishment  as  a  nation,  on  the 
basis  of  intelligence  and  virtue. 

yictor  Emanuel  is  eminently  an  out-door  man.  He 
familiarly  speaks  of  himself  as  better  fitted  for  a  General 
than  a  King,  and  is  more  at  home  on  the  battle-field, 
than  in  the  Cabinet,  and  with,  councils  of  State.  He 
has  a  proud  lineage  of  many  centuries  of  the  house  of 
Savoy,  and  is  deservedly  popular  as  a  soldier.  With  the 
exception  of  the  popish  faction  yet  lingering  at  Rome, 
his  government  is  the  desire  of  all  Italy.  His  name  is 
the  rallying  watchword  of  constitutional  liberty,  over 
the  whole  land  and  the  isles  adjacent.  Industrial  exhi- 
bitions are  in  progress  under  his  patronage ;  a  higher 
degree  of  material  and  spiritual  development  is  sought ; 
and  by  the  consent  and  help  of  all  evangelical  Christian 
nations,  Italy  is  fast  rising  to  dignity,  and  strength,  and 
honor,  among  the  most  intelligent  of  the  peoples  and 
powers  of  the  world. 

There  is  a  secret  in  this,  well  worth  being  told.  The 
true  seiwants  of  Christ  in  Italy,  even  from  the  middle 
ages,  were  persecuted  by  the  Chm-ch  of  Rome.  Fierce 
and  long  persecutions  forced  them  into  the  fastnesses  of 
the  Piedmontese  mountains,  where  they  have  for  ages 
been  known  as  the  Walden'ses  and  Albigenses  of  the 
Alps.  There,  in  obscurity  and  comparative  quiet,  they 
studied  their  Bibles  and  preached  the  faith  once  given 
to  the  saints.  They  there  breathed,  to  some  extent,  the 
air  of  freedom, — asserted  the  rights  of  conscience,  and 
the  claims  and  dignity  of  man.  They  were  the  Puritans 
of  Italy.  They  learned  to  fear  God,  and  nothing  else. 
They  got  the  principles  of  all  law  from  the  teachings  of 


Italy's  regeneration.  177 

the  sacred  text.  The  exigencies  of  their  social  state, 
and  the  airy  hights  of  the  mountains  among  which 
they  clustered,  taught  them  freedom.  Like  their  com- 
peers of  the  Mayflower,  they  were  worthy  to  concoct 
constitutions  and  to  be  the  progenitor  of  nations. 

Charles  Albert,  the  father  of  the  present  King,  through 
some  turn  in  the  tide  of  civil  aftau's,  was  long  seques- 
tered among  the  Waldenses,  and  received  much  of  his 
education  from  them.  He  gave  the  first  wiitten  civil 
constitution  to  his  people,  and  was  t\iQ  father  of  constitu- 
tional freedom  in  modern  Italy.  How  much  he  learned 
in  those  mountain  solitudes  we  know  not,  but  this  we 
do  know,  that  while  he  was  unequal  to  the  struggle 
with  the  minions  of  Austria  of  his  day,  and  while  that 
embodiment  of  despotism  brought  its  iron  heel  upon 
him  and  his  country,  his  name  has  become  the  synonym 
of  martyred  liberty  among  all  people.  And  now  the 
day  of  retribution  is  an-ived.  Waldensian  congrega- 
tions flourish  at  Turin,  and  at  Florence,  and  elsewhere. 
Popeiy  is  on  the  wane,  as  the  confederate  relic  of  by- 
gone and  worn  out  civil  corporations ;  whilst  the  reli- 
gion of  the  long-persecuted  sons  of  the  mountains  ap- 
pears in  new  vigor  to  be  the  hope  of  Italy  and  her  sal- 
vation. Christian  laborers  are  at  work  in  Milan,  Genoa, 
Bologna,  and  at  Rome  also,  and  light  is  breaking  in  on 
every  side.  Our  Ambassador  at  Turin,  Mr.  Marsh,  said 
to  me  there,  and  as  the  result  of  much  observation  and 
a  deep  interest  in  the  subject : — Italy  is  satisfying  every 
reasonable  hope,  and  is  gaining  in  religious  intelligence 
and  culture  as  we  ought  to  expect.  With  freedom  of 
thought  and  expression,  the  ratio  of  intelligence  will  in- 
12 


178  Italy's  regeneration. 

crease.  The  Bible  is  now  largely  circulated  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  and  the  spirit  of  inquiry  is  fully 
awake. 

The  oneness  of  the  Government  will  facilitate  pro- 
gress. Venetia  will  soon  be  returned  to  its  rightful  It- 
aly, and  the  city  of  the  Doges,  from  her  home  on  the 
waters,  look  down  upon  a  regenerated  country  and  call 
it  hers.  The  capital  will  be  removed  to  Rome,  and 
Victor  Emanuel  be  crowned  from  the  steps  of  the  Qui- 
rinal,  and  propound  his  constitution  there.  The  honest 
and  great-hearted  Garibaldi  has  already  demanded  it ; 
and  his  life  and  prowess  are  its  guaranty.  The  liberty 
and  unification  of  Italy  has  long  been  his  effort  and 
watchword.  This  is  by  eminence,  his  life  work,  and 
God  and  the  right  sustain  him  in  it. 

Under  an  enlightened,  constitutional  government,  It- 
aly will  soon  become  the  glory  of  all  lands.  Her  cen- 
tral situation,  her  maritime  advantages,  her  mild  skies 
and  tropical  fruits,  her  silk-worm  and  her  gi-apevine,  as 
well  as  her  historic  associations,  her  attractions  to  the 
man  of  letters  and  of  leisure,  to  men  of  all  arts  and  all 
aims,  facilitate  this.  Let  that  goodly  land  but  secure 
the  indigenous  home  growth  of  an  enlightened  Chris- 
tian people,  and  all  nations  will  delight  to  do  it  hom- 
age, and  the  long  hight  of  the  past  be  forgotten  jn  the 
full  splendors  of  an  oncoming  and  glorious  future. 


FRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEROR.  179 


LECTURE  IV. 

FRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEROR. 

For  the  last  fifty  or  seventy  years  France  has  been  the 
greatest  problem  in  Europe.  Even  to  this  day  the  states- 
men of  England  and  the  continent  have  not  known  what 
to  think  of  her,  and  have  stood  in  doubt  alike  of  her  pol- 
icy, and  her  word.  From  the  time  of  "  Le  Grand  Mon- 
arque,"  as  Louis  XIV  was  magnificently  called,  her  dy- 
nasties have  been  crumbling  and  her  political  regime 
ever  changing  and  self-inconsistent.  Her  government 
has  well  illustrated  the  doctrine  in  mechanics  of  the 
equilibrium  and  mutual  reaction  and  repulsion  of  forces. 
She  has  run  through  all  forms  of  civil  administration, 
from  the  absolute  rule  of  one,  to  the  irresponsible  rule 
of  all, — ^from  the  despot  to  the  Jacobin,  and  retraced 
her  steps.  She  has  been  under  martial  law  and  mob 
law,  alternately.  She  has  oscillated  between  Robespierre 
and  Gironde, — between  the  council  of  the  Legislature 
and  the  council  of  three, — that  of  the  dictator  and  the 
crown — regal  and  imperial  sway — between  the  revival 
of  old  dynasties  in  the  person  of  Louis  Phillipe,  and 
the  short  assumption  of  the  democracy  that  followed 
him,  till  both  elements  were  represented  and  swallowed 
up  in  the  election  of  Napoleon  III.,  as  Emperor  of  the 
French  and  absolute  Monarch  of  France. 

Under  all  changes  the  Nation  has  survived  and  in- 


180  FRANCE   AND    ITS    EMPEROR. 

creased  in  resources  and  strength.  Its  real  prosperity 
dates  from  the  downfall  of  the  "  notables  and  great  es- 
tates" of  the  realm.  That  was  the  uplifting  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  political  regeneration  of  France.  It  was 
the  creation  of  a  "third  estate," — the  acknowledgment 
of  popular  rights  and  the  claims  of  labor,  on  the  atten- 
tion of  the  governing  classes.  Lamartine  has  said  that 
the  ideas  generated  in  the  French  Revolution,  were 
worth  to  Europe  and  the  world,  all  the  blood  and  treas- 
ure they  cost.  France  would  have  learned  faster  with 
a  better  creed.  She  now  occupies  a  central  position 
among  the  nationalities  of  the  continent,  and  has  many 
advantages  for  a  conti'oUing  influence  over  them.  Her 
geographical  position  favors  it.  Her  industrial  resour- 
ces are  lai-ge.  She  has  many  and  broad  rivers,  and 
borders  on  both  the  Mediten-anean  Sea  and  the  Atlantic. 
She  has  large  and  increasing  cities,  an  improving  agi'i- 
culture  and  commerce,  and  immense  wealth  in  her  man- 
ufactures. In  every  branch  of  productive  industiy  she 
is  now  advancing  with  a  rapidity  which  surpasses  that 
of  almost  any  other  people.  Her  burdens  are  many, 
'  but  then  she  has  tried  change  until  she  is  weary  of  it, 
and  prefers  security  with  a  taut  rein  to  privilege  under 
a  loose  one. 

The  government  of  France  is  largely  despotic,  yet  in 
many  respects  enlightened  and  judicious.  The  will  of 
the  Emperor' may  have  the  force  of  law,  but  he  does 
not  despise  the  forms  of  law.  His  legislatures  have 
measurable  jurisdiction  and  adjudicate  with  open  houses. 
The  courts  and  diplomacy  of  France,  her  generals  and 


FRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEROK.  181 

her  armies,  her  police  and  her  general  thrift,  place  her 
in  the  front  rank  of  nations. 

Napoleon  III  says  that  he  understands  his  "epoch," 
and  surely  he  has  many  advantages  thus  to  do.  He 
has  known  adversity,  and  felt  the  pressure  of  want. 
The  oppressor's  rod  has  been  laid  upon  him.  The  dun- 
geons of  Germany  have  taught  him  a  lesson.  His 
American  tuition  has  not  been  lost  upon  him,  and  his 
elevation  to  the  throne  has  been  through  an  appeal  to 
the  masses.  There  is  a  popular  element  in  his  adminis- 
tration, which  he  does  not  forget.  He  was  elected  to 
his  position  by  the  vote  of  the  people,  and  now  glories 
in  the  title  of  "  The  Emperor  of  the  French." 

Napoleon  is  a  '''"parvenu^''  and  this  gives  him  advanta- 
ges for  a  discretionary  and  intelligent  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  France.  He  is  like  his  country  in  this. 
If  she  has  broken  up  her  ancestral  relations,  having 
swung  from  the  moorings  of  her  ancient  monarchy,  he 
has  freedom  to  adopt  the  regime  of  a  policy  for  the 
present  times.  He  can  have  the  adaptation  of  a  new 
dynasty,  and  suit  his  reign  to  the  people  and  the  age 
in  which  he  governs.  He  is  not  obliged  to  be  bound 
by  precedents.  He  can  forego  the  claims  of  by-gone 
ages,  and  shape  his  course  by  the  living  exigencies  of 
the  people.  He  can  go  to  war  for  an  "idea,"  and  stop 
at  Solferino.  His  nobility  are  the  men  of  his  own  crea- 
tion :  his  plans  and  precedents  are  the  children  of  his 
own  bosom,  and  spring  from  the  resources  of  his  own 
mind. 

Napoleon  is  eminently  an  original  man.  His  habits 
of  thought  are  of  a  philosophical  cast.     He  examines 


182  FRANCE   AND    ITS   EMPEROR. 

every  subject  in  thesis,  and  takes  its  a  priori  possibilities 
and  bearings.  No  one  can  study  his  utterances  without 
the  conviction  of  this.  All  his  communications  evince 
this,  and  exhibit  a  breadth  and  depth  and  condensation 
of  thought,  which  but  few  possess. 

He  has  been  accused  of  reticence  and  reserve.  He 
has  needed  it  all  in  the  circumstances  in  which  he  has 
been  placed.  He  is  said  to  be  cold  and  selfish.  He 
certainly  has  shown  himself  capable  of  a  stern  en- 
counter with  opposing  and  giant  obstacles  in  his  way, 
and  under  the  conviction  of  a  necessity  for  it,  he  has 
shown  that  he  could  be  severe  and  relentless. 

Of  his  private  life  we  have  nothing  to  say ;  his  pub- 
lic acts  have  been  eminently  characterized  for  strength 
and  wisdom.  The  world  have  ceased  to  call  him  "  the 
nephew  of  his  Uncle,"  and  from  the  record  he  has  al- 
ready given,  we  should  be  slow  to  deny  that  he  may  be 
the  subject  of  high  aims  and  generous  impulses.  The 
glory  of  France  is  doubtless  his  chief  ambition,  and  he 
has  the  sense  to  know  that  enriching  her,  he  enriches 
himself,  and  sends  his  own  name  with  brighter  lustre 
down  to  the  future.  He  is  to-day  the  greatest  farmer 
in  France,  while  he  makes  his  influence  felt  through 
every  street  of  the  Metropolis.  Paris  is  rising  in  new 
beauty  under  his  hand.  As  it  is  eminently  the  heart  of 
the  empire,  so  is  it  the  princess  among  European  cities. 
London  is  larger,  but  has  not  its  adornment  and  perfec- 
tion of  beauty.  She  has  not  the  costly  and  exquisite 
finish, — the  gardens  and  the  palaces,  and  triumphal 
arches,  and  walks  and   ways, — such  magnificence  of 


FRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEROR.  183 

statues  and  obelisks,  and  pillars,  and  fountains,  and 
streets. 

Paris  is  greatly  indebted  to  both  the  Bonapartes,  and 
eminently  to  the  one  now  on  the  throne.  Nor  does  he 
confine  his  attention  to  Paris  or  France.  Patriotism 
may  be  the  measui-e  of  his  aspirations,  but  we  greatly 
mistake  if  he  has  not  higher  thoughts,  and  a  nobler 
ambition.  Napoleon  says  France  is  the  only  poiver  in 
Europe  that  will  go  to  war  for  an  idea,  and  I  give  him 
credit  for  the  assertion,  and  believe  that  with  all  his 
sternness  and  reserve,  he  intends  to  be  the  exponent  of 
liberal  principles  and  free  thought,  and*  the  champion 
of  human  rights  for  the  continent.  Years  ago  he  wrote 
a  book  for  the  freedom  and  unity  of  Italy.  He  after- 
wards precipitated  his  legions  in  deadly  strife  on  Aus- 
tria, and  did  all  that  war  could  do  to  that  end.  He  now 
holds  the  key  of  Rome  till  "  the  pear  shall  get  ripe." 
Every  day  widens  the  breach  between  him  and  the  Ro- 
man priesthood,  as  he  sees  it  wedded  to  the  past  and  a 
foe  to  progress.  He  is  the  friend  of  Italy  and  awaits 
her  destinies,  and  that  allies  him  to  the  downtrodden 
and  oppressed  of  nations :  to  Hungary  and  Poland,  and 
the  reconstruction  of  European  nationalities.  His  po- 
sition, his  principles  and  his  ambition  invite  him  to  this. 
He  owes  it  to  the  memory  of  the  1st  Napoleon,  and  the 
glory  of  his  house, — to  his  American  ideas, — to  the  ad- 
vanced civilization  of  France  and  her  long  preparation 
and  baptism  in  blood  to  become  the  foremost  of  king- 
doms and  a  champion  and  leader  in  the  cause  of  free- 
dom and  humanity  on  the  Contineut. 

France  has  now  had  the  tuition  of  near  a  century, 


184  FRANCE    AND    ITS   EiMPEROE. 

and  the  repeated  baptism  of  blood.  She  significantly 
says,  Paris  is  France,  and  France  is  Europe ;  but  to  ful- 
fill her  mission,  if  it  be  to  enthrone  the  new  doctrine  of 
government  and  gain  the  social  regeneration  of  the 
Continent,  she  needs  two  things  : — The  overthrow  of  the 
papal  hierarchy  and  the  attainment  of  religious  faith. 

France  has  outgrown  its  religion.  The  intelligence 
of  that  country  is  in  advance  of  its  religious  creed. 
Gewgaws  may  amuse  children,  but  the  puerile  preten- 
sions of  the  Romish  church  cannot  hold  the  French 
mind.  It  has  been  so  since  the  days  of  Voltaire  and 
Rousseau,  and  the  best  apology  for  Infidelity  there  is  to 
be  found  in  the  category  of  the  national  faith.  Ro- 
manism prostrates  intellect  and  taxes  credulity  to  the 
very  verge  of  nonsense.  The  intelligent  classes  tire  of 
it,  for  its  insipidity  and  want  of  manly  vigor  and  truth- 
fulness, and  become  sceptical.  They  hold  to  religious 
form  only  as  a  question  of  State.  They  attend  church 
only  on  State  occasions.  Kotre  Dame  has  but  a  hun- 
dred or  two  of  worshippers,  on  ordinary  Sabbaths,  and 
those  mostly  of  the  poor  and  dependent  classes.  Pro- 
testantism is  now  making  some  head-way  against  the 
current,  but  never  was  there  a  nation,  professedly  Chris- 
tian, so  thoroughly  Infidel  as  France  is  to-day. 

Two  things  besides  the  revival  of  general  intelligence 
and  the  conviction  of  the  utter  unworthiness  of  Pope- 
ry as  an  economy  of  belief  have  contributed  to  this  re- 
sult. I  refer  to  the  Ultra  Montane  as  well  as  despotic  ten- 
dencies and  aspirations  of  Romanism.  France  dislikes 
a  regime  of  worship  that  is  dictated  from  beyond  the 
Alps.     She  is  restive  under  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy 


FRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEROR.  185 

and  domination  of  Rome,  and  that  all  church  prefer- 
ments and  episcopal  appointments  must  emanate  from 
the  Holy  See.  The  political  status  of  Italy  hitherto 
has  only  quickened  this  sentiment  and  loosened  the  ob- 
ligations of  religious  faith. 

Here  is  the  difficult  position  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment at  this  moment.  Napoleon  could  more  easily  con- 
quer the  Austrians  at  Solferino,  and  institute  a  united 
Italy,  than  he  can  manage  the  tendencies  of  his  own 
bishops  and  clergy  toward  Rome  and  the  infallible 
Popedom,  temporalities  and  all. 

He  has  set  the  press  to  work,  and  expects  help  from 
the  court  of  Turin  in  this  behalf,  and  thus  with  cautious 
helm  and  furled  sail,  is  steering  between  loyalty  to  the 
Pope,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  sense  of  independence 
and  freedom  from  foreign  control  among  the  people  on 
the  other.  This  dislodges  the  conviction  of  religious 
faith,  and  fosters  the  idea  that  all  rites  of  worship  are 
but  an  affair  of  State,  and  destitute  of  vital  claims  on 
the  conscience.  To  this  may  be  added  the  despotism 
of  Popery.  Its  best  friend  is  Austna,  with  its  iron 
heel  on  all  reform.  It  is  known  to  be  committed  against 
free  thought  and  free  government,  and  the  ally  and  ad- 
vocate of  the  divine  right  of  kings.  It  is  an  absoiutism 
and  preaches  the  doctrine  everywhere,  and  holds  it  with 
the  grasp  of  death.  But  France  is  a  democracy,  or  at 
least  she  thinks  so,  and  has  not  forgotten  the  votes  that 
gave  her  an  Emperor.  And  she  claims  freedom  of 
opinion  and  of  speech  so  far  as  the  State  admits  of  it, 
and  repudiates  foreign  domination  not  less  in  religion 
than  in  politics.     The  arbitrary  dogmas  of  Rome  have 


186  FRANCE   AND   ITS   ElIPEROR. 

little  hold  on  her  conscience,  and  are  easily  substituted 
by  that  want  of  faith  which  characterizes  the  French 
mind.  Nowhere  will  you  observe  such  an  absence  of 
religious  ideas, — such  an  engrossment  in  the  present, — 
such  a  living  for  this  world.  A  future  life  seems  not  to 
be  in  their  thoughts,  and  a  sense  of  God  and  of  obliga- 
tion to  Him,  to  a  large  extent,  is  extinguished. 

Glory  and  France  are  their  watchwords — to  live  and 
enjoy  themselves  their  only  concern.  Gay,  pleasure- 
seeking,  and  unreflective,  they  seem  to  sin  with  the 
least  conscience  of  any  people — theii-  morality,  a  con- 
ventional an-angement  for  mutual  good — a  sentiment 
rather  than  a  conviction,  spontaneous,  and  at  will,  but 
connected  with  no  ideas  of  God  or  of  obligation  to  Him. 

The  learned  and  philosophical  Guizot,  after  visiting 
England  and  observing  the  operation  of  free  institutions 
and  a  constitutional  government  there,  remarked  of  his 
own  country — '•'' France  needs  religious  faiths  This  tes- 
timony is  tine,  and  competent  to  the  point.  And  it 
describes  the  imperative  necessity  of  the  French  people. 
Romanism  has  engendered  in  their  mind  a  scepticism  m 
respect  to  all  religious  belief.  They  are  wanting  in  the 
observance  of  the  first  truths  of  reason  concerning  God, 
and  His  providence  and  His  word.  They  are  without 
God  and  the  practical  conviction  of  amenability  to  Him. 
Without  the  recognition  and  feai*  of  God,  they  lack  that 
conscience  which  these  convictions  inspire.  The  stable 
foundations  of  morality  are  wanting.  They  lack  the 
sterling  Puritan  element  in  their  social  life.  From  the 
peasant  to  the  throne,  France  needs  to  be  pervaded  with 
genuine  religious  convictions, — with  thoughts   of  God 


FRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEROR.  187 

and  immoi-tality,  and  the  binding  obligations  ol  virtue. 
In  one  word,  she  wants  a  religious  conscience.  She 
must  have  an  intelligent  economy  of  doctrine,  and  a 
real  conviction  of  it,  and  trust  in  it.  It  must  be  equal 
to  her  science  and  civilization,  and  sanctify  both.  She 
must  give  up  the  puerilities  of  Popery  for  a  purer,  better 
faith ;  a  faith  that  does  not  abjm-e  reason  and  is  not  un- 
worthy of  it.  She  must  get  back  from  the  false  lights 
of  a  merely  legendary  service  to  a  simple  Gospel,  and 
its  intuitive  and  legitimate  teachings.  She  must  have 
piety  toward  God,  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  sim- 
ple and  pure  worship,  and  be  strengthened  to  all  righ- 
teousness by  the  baptism  of  religious  truth.  On  this 
career  France  has  already  entered.  She  has  long  been 
praying  for  the  forfeiture  of  her  persecution  of  the 
Hugenots,  and  is  returning  with  some  confidence  and 
hope,  to  the  faith  which  she  once  destroyed.  Protestant 
congregations,  devoted  advocates  for  the  truth,  are  to  be 
found  in  all  her  principalities,  and,  to  some  extent,  in 
many  rm-al  districts.  There  is,  at  least,  the  first  dawning 
of  a  brighter  day.  Romanism  is  on  the  wane.  Napo- 
leon is  as  conscious  of  its  inadequacy  for  the  present  and 
the  future  of  France  and  Italy,  as  any  one.  He  is  wait- 
ing the  logic  of  events.  The  work  of  Father  Passaglia, 
the  first  scholar  in  Rome,  opposing  the  temporal  juris- 
diction of  the  Pope,  and  repubUshed  at  Florence, 
and  followed  up  with  subsequent  articles  in  the  same 
strain,  is  a  very  healthful  and  gratifying  token.  And 
but  to-day  the  news  arrives  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  last  named  city  are  placarding  through  their  streets 
and  public  places  the  motto,   "Rome  as  the  Capital 


188  FRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEKOK. 

of  Italy" — "  Down  with  the  Pope  King" — "  Long  live 
Victor  Emanuel." 

This  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  end.  The  most  in- 
timate relations  subsist  between  Italy  and  France,  and 
between  the  governments  of  the  two  nations.  If  the 
one  has  now  her  constitution  from  the  foot  of  the  Alps, 
and  in  near  sympathy  with  the  sturdy  ethics  of  the 
Waldenses  and  the  Bible,  she  knows  how  to  learn  the 
lesson,  and  if  Napoleon  III  "  can  go  to  war  for  an  idea," 
and  conquer  Italy  for  the  Italians,  his  j^eople  may  yet, 
with  his  consent,  assert  the  rights  of  conscience  against 
the  claims  of  Rome,  and  get  a  religious  faith,  that  shall 
make  them  equal  to  the  claims  of  the  future  on  so  chiv- 
akous  and  gallant  a  people. 

The  expedition  to  Mexico  and  this  continent  is  not 
yet  written  out.  It  is,  we  observe,  thoroughly  canvassed 
in  the  French  Chambers,  and  is  subjected  to  a  scathing 
criticism  and  rebuke  in  the  columns  of  the  "  Westmin- 
ster  Review^  Napoleon  himself  asserts  it  to  be  one  of 
the  noblest  and  best  movements  of  his  life,  and  expects 
the  gi-atitude  of  mankind  for  it.  We  fear  in  it  the  in- 
trigue of  that  bigoted,  Spanish,  Roman  Catholic  -wife  of 
his,  and  apprehend  that  French  conquests  in  Mexico 
will  only  serve  to  reinstate  in  power  the  Roman  priest- 
hood of  that  country,  with  their  overbearing  resources 
of  wealth  and  influence,  to  pei-petuate  the  ignorance  and 
degradation  of  the  people. 

An  enlightened  monarchy  in  Mexico,  while  it  would 
be  certainly  against  our  Monroe  doctrine,  might  not  be 
the  worst  thing  for  that  country.  It  has  fared  hard  and 
been  badly  governed  hitherto,  and  if  some  sturdy  Na- 


PRANCE  AND  ITS  EMPEROR.  189 

poleon  has  leisure  to  consolidate  it  under  law,  and  bring 
out  its  resources  for  the  benefit  of  the  world,  we  should 
not  much  complain.  Maxamilian  seems  ready  to  under- 
take the  task,  and  with  France  to  sustain  him,  will  un- 
doubtedly do  the  best  he  can  to  make  monarchy  accept- 
able on  this  continent. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Seward  will  keep  all  crowned 
heads  well  advised  of  our  views,  but  there  need  be  no 
clash  at  arms.  Honest  Lincoln  must  undoubtedly  be 
President  next  time.  Pennsylvania,  California  and 
Kansas  have  already  declared  for  him.  But  he  will 
have  enough  to  do  to  get  into  subsidence  and  reconcile- 
ment the  jarring  elements  of  our  home  country  during 
the  balance  of  his  eight  years  term  without  giving  much 
thought  to  abstract  questions  outside.  Mexico,  as  yet, 
has  shown  itself  incompetent  to  free  institutions  and 
been  but  the  disgi-ace  of  republics.  Napoleon,  if  he 
understands  his  epoch,  will  not  quarrel  with  us.  Him- 
self a  child  of  reform  and  revolution,  as  in  the  North 
of  Africa,  so  he  may  do  Mexico  good,  and  pending  the 
issue  and  cognizant  of  our  own  national  stmggle  and 
crisis  that  is  on  us,  we  will  commit  our  way  to  the  Lord 
and  trust  the  future  to  him. 


190  ENGLAND    AND    ITS    QUEEN. 


LECTURE  V. 

ENGLAND  AND  ITS  QUEEN. 

England  is  approached  from  France  by  several  routes  : 
that  by  Havre  to  Southampton, — from  Dieppe  to  New 
Haven,  and  from  Calais  to  Dover,  and  thence  by  rail 
road  or  on  the  Thames,  a  river  of  quite  considerable 
dimensions,  and  teeming  with  ships  and  commerce,  all 
the  way  to  the  metropolis. 

London  is  an  empire  of  itsejf  Its  population  is  well 
nigh  that  of  the  whole  State  of  New  York.  The  city 
spreads  itself  out  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  chiefly 
on  the  north-west  of  it,  with  a  radius  of  four  or  six 
miles  eveiy  way  from  a  point  near  to  St.  Paul's  or  Chai*- 
ring  Cross  as  its  centre.  Parliament  House,  Westmin- 
ster Abbey,  St.  Paul's,  the  Bank,  and  Palaces  and 
Towers  and  Parks  and  business  are  on  that  side,  though 
the  new  and  gorgeous  Crystal  Palace  peers  away  off  at 
Sydenham  on  the  other  side. 

London  is  a  congeries  of  villages  and  boroughs,  and 
separate  municipalities,  expanded  into  one  large  and 
overtowering  city,  in  the  course  of  time  and  events.  Its 
streets  are  without  much  regularity  or  reference  to  each 
other.  It  is  said  to  have  twenty  Queen  streets  and 
twenty-five  King  streets,  and  others  in  perhaps  equal 
profusion.  A  post-oflSce  address  must  do  more  than 
designate  its  street — it  must  show  which  of  that  name, 


ENGLAND    AND    ITS    QUEEN.  191 

by  reference  to  some  well-known  locality  as  the  Strand 
—the  Mall — Fleet  street — Flood  Gate — or  by  marking 
the  geographical  portion  of  the  city  intended. 

A  practice  is  observable  in  London,  somewhat  char- 
acteristic :  the  river  is  made  an  omnibus  and  a  rail  road, 
and  innumerable  small  steamers  are  at  work  up  and 
down  the  stream,  conveying  passengers  to  all  ptoints 
near  it,  at  two  or  three  pennies  a  head. 

London  is  eminently  a  business  city.  Not  that  of  the 
government  only,  and  of  the  British  Isles,  but  of  India, 
and  the  colonies  around  the  world.  It  is  the  centre  of 
the  commerce  of  all  nations,  and  keeps  the  books  and 
regulates  the  exchanges  of  the  world.  The  account  is 
kept  there,  wealth  accumulates  there,  and  is  diffused 
thence,  as  from  a  common  and  acknowledged  centre. 

Liverpool,  over  on  the  western  side  of  England  and 
near  the  Atlantic,  is  a  younger  city,  though  rapidly 
growing  in  business  and  wealth,  and  from  the  advan- 
tages of  its  position  may  yet  become  the  great  commer- 
cial emporium  of  the  kingdom. 

England  has  large  resources  in  her  agriculture,  her 
mines  and  collieries,  and  yet  her  wealth  and  greatness 
must  be  attributed  to  her  large  share  of  the  commerce 
of  the  world,  in  connection  with  her  immense  manufac- 
tures. She  shows  no  signs  of  decay,  and  those  who 
predict  her  speedy  downfall  from  taxes  or  the  weight  of 
empire,  must  look  elsewhere  for  it  than  to  the  statistics 
of  her  tunnage  and  commerce  or  the  spirit  of  her  people. 
The  English  are  an  intelligent,  if  not  a  literary  peo- 
ple. Besides  numerous  respectable  institutions  more  in 
the  Dissenting  interest,   the  two  Universities  of  the 


192  ENGLAND    AND   ITS   QUEEN. 

Establishment, — the  one  at  Oxford  and  the  other  at 
Cambridge, — would  be  an  honor  to  any  country.  They 
started  from  small  beginnings  and  have  grown  to  truly 
colossal  proportions.  They  had  their  rise  in  the  cluster- 
ing of  independent  Grammar  Schools  in  an  early  day, 
under  the  care  of  single  teachers.  They  are  the  children 
of  tfceir  own  pupils,  and  have  been  built  up  from  age  to 
age  on  their  successive  endowments.  They  are  now 
nearly  of  the  same  size.  The  University  of  Oxford, 
which  is  the  oldest,  dates  back  to  the  seventh  or  eighth 
century  of  our  era.  It  has  now  twenty-three  separate 
colleges  and  foundations,  with  corporations  really  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  but  for  mutual  edification  and 
convenience,  sharing  in  these  last  days  some  things  in 
common.  They  are  located  apparently  without  reference 
to  each  other  in  all  parts  of  the  town.  Indeed  it  is  a 
city  of  colleges,  and  for  their  sake.  They  have  nnmer- 
ous  quadrangles  of  masonry  of  every  age  and  style, 
with  spacious  yards  and  lawns  and  walks  and  overhang- 
ing trees.  Addison's  walk  in  Magdalen  College  is  over 
half  a  mile  around,  and  the  great  walk  in  the  rear  of 
Christ  College,  (or  Church,  as  it  is  called,)  and  belong- 
ing to  it,  is  four  rods  wide  and  one  hundred  in  extent, 
with  a  dense  row  of  venerable  elms,  from  three  to  four 
feet  in  diameter,  in  each  border.  Large  parks,  with 
stately  forest  trees,  and  live  deer  sporting  in  them,  are 
observable  in  the  rear  of  some  of  the  colleges.  The 
University  is  the  largest  land  and  property  holder  in  the 
region,  if  not  in  all  England.  Some  of  the  foundations 
are  richer  than  others,  but  all  in  their  appointments, 
their  Libraries  and  Galleries  of  Art,  have  the  appearance 


ENGLAND    AND   ITS    QUEEN.  198 

of  thrift  and  comfort,  and  of  the  means  of  great  and 
permanent  usefulness. 

But  at  this  point  there  is  disappointment  or  occasion 
for  it.  Oxford  is  not  doing  the  good  she  might.  She 
suffers  under  the  evils  incident  to  overgrown  and 
Avealthy  coi*porations.  The  University  is  very  much  a 
magnificent  charity  in  the  behoof  of  dependents  and 
wards  and  cousins.  The  twenty-three  colleges  have,  in 
all,  less  than  sixteen  hundred  students,  and  some,  with 
millions  of  money,  not  more  than  than  thirty  or  forty. 
They  have  accommodations  for  five  times  the  number, 
and  professors  and  fellows  rusting  out  for  want  of  schol- 
ars. The  terms  of  admission  are  a  damage  to  them  and 
the  aristocratic  notions  that  prevail. 

Still  the  stranger  cannot  visit  those  retreats  of  leai*n- 
ing,  traverse  those  halls  and  gardens  and  grounds,  and 
look  through  those  extended  alcoves  of  the  wit  and 
wisdom  of  the  past,  without  seeing  the  elements  of  a 
mighty  power  for  good  in  the  future.  There  is  yet 
truth  and  faith  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  There  are 
the  Jorms,  recumbent  and  sleeping  it  may  be,  of  a 
mighty  orthodoxy.  The  mind  of  the  Spirit  may  breathe 
over  them.  The  Holy  Ghost  may  be  shed  down  upon 
them  from  on  high,  and  these  centres  and  foundations 
be  moved  as  one  man.  These  halls,  and  these  founda- 
tions, and  magnificent  charities  it  may  be,  are  held  in 
check,  till  all  is  ready  and  the  pentecost  is  fully  come. 
There  is  a  future  for  England  and  the  Saxon  race  "  in 
the  ages  to  come."  She  has  colonies  and  dependent 
possessions  round  the  globe,  and  the  means  of  usefulness 
beyond  any  other  nation.  She  has  Gibralter  and  the 
18 


194  ENGLAND    AND    ITS    QUEEN. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  owns  more  on  each  of  the  con- 
tinents, than  any  other  people,  with  the  exception  ot 
Russia  about  the  pole,  and  perhaps  our  own  country 
here.  She  has  an  empire  in  India  on  both  sides  of  the 
Ganges,  and  a  decided  ascendency  in  the  Eastern  Arch- 
ipelago. Australia  is  her's,  and  she  holds  the  keys  of 
China.  The  subjugation  and  occupation  of  that  vast 
empire  by  a  Christian  power,  is  only  a  question  of  time. 
A  peaceful  possession  of  its  sea-ports  may  be  gained  by 
the  methods  of  commerce,  and  this  would  lead  to  the 
establishment  of  inland  factories  and  depots  of  trade, 
followed  up  by  efforts  for  Christian  enlightenment  and 
evangelization,  and  thus  a  gradual  transformation  be 
secured  from  a  heathen  to  a  Christian  people.  It  may 
be  a  better  sample  of  the  advance  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion than  India  has  presented,  though  the  general  pro- 
cess of  it  has  long  been  going  on,  with  much  imperfec- 
tion there. 

But  India  is  fast  improving  now.  A  government  is  a 
better  civilizer  than  a  company.  Since  the  crown  has 
accepted  the  government  of  that  country  from  the  East 
India  Company,  the  ratio  of  advancement  there  in  the 
direction  of  an  intelligent  and  prosperous  Christian 
nation,  eventually,  is  itself  materially  advancing. 

China  is  in  some  respects  a  more  enlightened  and 
better  conditioned  people  than  India,  and  less  under 
the  sway  of  malignant  and  unyielding  superstitions. 
Her  products  invite  the  commerce  of  all  nations,  and 
her  access  to  it  is  as  life  from  the  dead,  to  nearly  a  third 
of  the  human  race.  Providence  will  demand  such  a 
country,  so  vast  in  extent  and  favorable  in  position,  in 


ENGLAND    AND   ITS   QUEEN.  195 

climate  and  soil,  as  a  factor  in  the  future  of  humanity, 
Mud  the  way  of  the  East  seems  ah-eady  to  be  "  cast  up." 

Should  there  be  a  struggle  for  the  occupation  of  China, 
it  would  doubtless  lie  between  England  and  Russia. 
This  latter  power  has  now  all  north  of  China  and  all 
east  to  Behring's  Straits,  except  Japan,  and  no  inconsid- 
erable section  adjoining  it,  on  our  own  continent.  She 
owns  both  sides  of  the  Amoor  river,  and  untold  regions 
up  to  its  sources  in  the  many  confluents  that  swell  its 
majestic  bosom  and  proportions. 

What  increase  of  territory  Russia  may  have  it  in  her 
heart  to  desire,  it  may  not  be  easy  to  say.  One  thing  is 
obvious :  she  has  much  yet  to  do  for  what  she  already 
has.  She  owns  nearly  all  the  north  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
from  the  Baltic  to  the  Black  Sea,  and  the  Caspian  and 
the  Himmaleh  Mountains,  to  the  wall  of  China  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  Serfdom  is  not  yet  extinct  in  her  do- 
minions. Her  agriculture,  her  manufactures,  and  her 
commerce,  need  centuries  of  improvenient.  Her  newly 
acquired  possessions  on  the  Amoor,  the  very  Amazon  oi 
the  Old  World,  have  the  size  of  an  empire,  and  would 
be  more  benefitted  by  the  arts  of  trade  than  by  the 
clash  of  arms. 

England  and  Russia  seem  to  be  the  meet  counter- 
parts of  each  other.  After  some  experience  in  the 
Crimea,  they  may  see  that  there  is  a  better  way  than 
war.  They  may  become  too  intelligent  and  considerate 
to  fight  for  China,  and  conclude  to  use  and  enjoy  and 
improve  it  for  the  benefit  of  both,  and  submit  its  future 
destinies  to  the  mutual  comity  and  good  will  of  all  nations. 
This  would  assuredly  be  the  more  excellent  way;  and 


196  ENGLAND    AND    ITS    QUEEN. 

can  it  not  be  anticipated  that  the  policy  of  nations  will 
increase  in  spirituality  and  in  their  relations  to  each 
other,  and  in  the  march  of  their  internal  and  mutual  im- 
provement be  more  commensurate  with  the  demands  of 
Providence  and  the  instructions  of  revealed  truth? 

This  is  the  suggestion  of  enlightened  reason  and  hu- 
mane jurisprudence  on  the  subject,  and  the  nations  will 
at  length  accept  it.  Each  sovereignty  is  best  condi- 
tioned and  prospers  most,  by  having  all  others  prosper 
around  it.  The  Cosmopolite  idea  is  a  Christian  idea. 
There  is  the  brotherhood  of  nations — man  is  one,  and 
has  one  Father  in  Heaven. 

England  is  best  situated  to  have  the  oversight  of 
China,  for  the  good  of  the  world.  She  is  small  at  home 
and  large  on  the  seas  and  in  foreign  commerce.  She 
has  dependencies  almost  everywhere.  She  is,  at  home, 
a  highly  civilized  and  Christian  people.  Her  literature 
and  her  faith  are  the  birth-right  of  all  nations.  The 
Saxon  race  has  in  it  a  prodigious  vitality,  and  is  des- 
tined to  be  a  great  factor  in  working  out  the  future 
problems  of  society  and  the  world.  The  Sclavonic 
race  is  not  equal  to  it,  and  though  we  concede  much  to 
Russia,  as  a  great  power  among  "  the  powers  that  be" 
on  earth,  and  though  her  diplomats  manifest  much 
shrewdness  and  capacity  in  the  Congress  of  Nations, 
and  though  we  admire  the  progress  in  civilization  which 
she  is  making,  we  look  to  Western  Europe,  and  its  cor- 
relates in  America,  for  those  life-currents  which  shall  set 
forth  for  the  evangelization  of  man,  and  shall  bring  in, 
under  God,  the  day  of  prophecy  and  of  promise  in  His 
word. 


ENGLAND    AND    ITS   QUEEN.  197 

There  is  a  lesson  in  this  direction  in  the  Iloyal  Fam- 
ily of  England,  as  represented  in  the  present  Queen. 
She,  though  not  distinguished  for  grace  of  person  or 
point  and  strength  of  intellect,  is  a  truly  Christian 
woman — a  Godly,  pious  mother,  and  with  the  Prince 
consort,  now  deceased,  constituted  the  united  head  of  a 
model  household.  They  were  a  loving  and  virtuous 
couple,  and  formed  a  distinguished  example  of  that 
good  Christian  home,  tnown  only  to  England  and  its 
coiTelates.  It  is  said  that  no  other  people  know  what 
the  word  means.  It  was  gained  for  them  and  us  in  a 
Magna  Charta  and  at  Runnymede. 

Private  virtue  is  wont  to  be  a  desideratum  among 
crowned  heads.  The  courts  and  palaces  of  Europe  are 
noted  for  courtezan  manners  and  low  moralities.  They 
have  peculiar  temptations  and  great  incentives  to  disso- 
lute habits  and  profligacy  of  life.  But  it  is  an  honor 
and  blessing  to  England  to  be  able  to  present  such  an 
example  of  sobriety,  virtue  and  piety,  to  the  nations,  as 
she  does  in  the  person  and  domestic  relations  of  her 
Queen.  They  have  hallowed  the  throne  on  which  she 
sits,  and  the  crown  she  wears.  They  have  added  re- 
spectability to  the  court,  and  its  attendants.  They  do 
honor  to  religion  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  are  a  tes- 
timony to  them  of  the  sacredness  and  value  of  a  truly 
Christian  home.  Such  an  example  reflects  light  abroad. 
The  thrones  of  the  continent  feel  its  influence,  and  are 
assisted  to  respect  the  source  whence  it  emanates,  if  not 
to  imitate  its  example.  It  is  the  gospel  of  God  in  the 
palace  of  the  Csesars.  It  shows  that  personal  religion, 
and  personal  fealty  to  it,  and  respect  for  it,  may  be  in 


198  ENGLAND   AND   ITS   QUEEN. 

high  i^laces  as  well  as  low,  and  that  the  social  virtues 
may  be  held  in  honor,  and  should  not  be  at  a  discount 
there.  And  it  is  an  example  and  a  lesson  worth  record- 
ing. Other  thrones  and  monarchies  have  had  pious 
sovereigns,  and  other  nations  pious  inilers  to  leave  the 
savor  of  their  names  in  history ;  but  this  is  one  of 
great  distinction  on  the  scroll  of  the  present  time,  to 
shed  the  light  of  its  high  example  on  the  homes  and 
hearthstones  of  the  British  people  not  only,,  through  all 
the  colonies  of  England  which  belt  the  globe,  but  all 
nations  and  peoples  also.  There  is  value  in  a  Christian 
home.  The  fxmily  antedated  the  fall.  It  is  an  institu- 
tion that  came  down  from  Paradise,  and  as  it  is  the  ear- 
liest, so  should  it  be  the  most  valued  of  any  among 
men.  It  is  the  parent  of  the  State,  the  exemplar  of  the 
church,  and  in  its  bosom  are  nurtured  all  those  virtues 
which  adorn  society  and  assimilate  earth  to  Heaven. 

The  hope  of  the  future  is  in  this  relation.  The  fami- 
ly constitution  has  in  it  the  germ  of  the  millenium.  It 
is  through  Christian  households  that  Christ  will  rise  to 
the  sovereignty  of  all  nations.  Woman  has  a  work  to 
do  in  the  house  of  God.  Without  her  influence  the 
latter  day  of  Zion's  glory  would  never  come,  or  a  point 
be  reached  in  Christian  civilization  that  would  render  it 
possible.  The  elevation,  excellence  and  power  of  wo- 
man, and  a  generation  trained  by  her  hand  "  who  shall 
be  all  righteous,"  are  the  great  boon  of  the  future.  Let 
these  elements  pervade  and  permeate  the  thrones  and 
democracies  among  men,  and  let  "  kings  become  nursing 
fathers  and  their  queens  nursing  mothers  to  Zion,"  and 
the  families  of  the  earth  take  on  the  mode  of  the  Gospel 


ENGLAND   AND   ITS   QUEEN.  199 

and  own  its  sway,  and  the  end  would  come  as  predicted, 
and  this  world  would  put  on  the  type  of  the  heavenly. — 
''Joy  and  praise  would  be  heard  therein,  thanksgiving 
and  the  voice  of  melody." 


200  REV.    DR.    PUSEY   AT   OXFORD. 


LECTURE  VI. 

REV.  DR.  PUSEY  AT  OXFORD. 

While  in  England  I  spent  a  Sabbath  at  Oxford,  that 
city  of  colleges  and  literaiy  foundations  and  ecclesiastics. 
It  was  ^^convocation  day,''  when  the  twenty-three  really 
separate  corporations,  having  been  gathered  on  the  Sat- 
urday before,  from  their  long  summer  vacation,  and  hav- 
ing met  for  morning  prayer  in  their  respective  chapels, 
assembled  as  to  the  heads  of  departments,  and  as  many 
as  could,  in  St.  Mari/s  church,  for  a  sermon.  Dr.  Pusey, 
a  Fellow  of  Chiist  College,  and  ex-Regius  Professor  of 
Hebrew, — who  had  been  cashiered  for  his  Popish  ten- 
dencies, but  for  some  reason  had  got  into  favor  again, — 
w^as  the  preacher  on  the  occasion.  He  is  a  man  ap- 
proaching the  evening  of  life,  of  medium  height,  thick- 
set, a  firm  tone  of  voice,  and  not  much  action  in  the 
pulpit.     But  I  recur  to  my  notes  for  the  day : — 

"Listened  this  morning  (Sabbath,  Oct.  13th)  with  all 
Oxford,  &c.,  to  a  sermon  from  the  celebrated  Dr.  Pusey, 
the  father  of  Puseyism,  and  widely  known  on  both 
sides  of  the  water.  As  I  was  an  American  clergyman, 
I  was  admitted  among  the  gownsmen,  and  to  a  good 
privilege  of  hearing,  and  was  much  interested  in  the 
discourse,  which  was  an  horn-  long,  and  unattended  with 
the  usual  service  of  prayer,  in  public  worship.  It  was 
quite  a  labored  and  able  production :  ^And  /,  if  I  he  lifted 


REV.    DR.    PUSEY   AT   OXiORD.  201 

upi  will  draw  all  men  unto  me.'  If  the  Regius  Professor 
had  been  as  good  a  metaphysician  as  Hebrew  scholar, 
he  would  have  improved  the  sermon.  It  was  all  on 
Reason,  and  the  Bible,  (my  subject,  you  will  say,)  and  it 
was  above  half  right.  Dr.  P.  was  running  the  parallel- 
isms and  contrasts  between  Reason  and  Revelation  all 
the  way  through,  and  seemed  much  like  the  man  in  the 
gospel,  who  saw  'men  as  trees  walking.'  He  lacked 
analysis,  and  a  careful  and  consistent  use  of  terms,  and 
committed  himself  and  crossed  his  own  track  at  various 
points.  He  is  clearly  a  disciple  of  the  Hamilton  and 
Mansell  school.  But  the  sermon,  even  with  these  de- 
fects, had  much  truth  and  excellency  in  it,  and  was  vast- 
ly more  evangelical  and  faithful  in  its  cast  and  exhorta- 
tions than  I  was  prepared  to  expect.  Its  chief  aim  was 
to  set  up  faith  as  the  method  of  receiving  Divine  Reve- 
lation ;  and  its  chief  mistake  was  in  accounting  those 
intuitions  of  reason  and  of  the  intelligence  as  faith  itself 
which  are  the  cause  of  it,  and  its  legitimate  ground,  and 
thus,  instead  of  making  faith  reasonable  and  a  dictate  of 
reason,  in  reality  stultifying  both,  and  giving  up  the  co- 
incidence and  harmony  between  them.  Verily,  there 
are  some  things  the  English  have  not  got  yet.  They 
lack  precision  and  ripeness  in  the  science  of  mind.  Oh, 
thought  I,  as  I  saw  him  (Dr.  P.)  battling  along  so  lusti- 
ly on  the  edge  of  tmth,  and  crossing  and  needing  it, 
without  stating  it  in  just  relations, — why  does  he  not 
see  it  and  catch  its  line  of  things  and  use  it,  and  thus 
render  his  work  so  much  more  easy  and  effectual,  and 
give  himself  so  much  wider  a  margin  of  privilege  to 
scathe  Geologists  and  the  advocates  of  '  positive  science,' 


202  REV.    DR.    PUSEY   AT   OXFORD. 

which  was  his  real  and  legitimate  object.  I  have  not 
seen  so  much  Scripture  interwoven  in  a  sermon,  and  so 
well  put,  scarcely  in  my  life.  I  think  I  must  recur  to 
him  again,  if  I  live  to  get  home" — and  so  I  do;  but 
only  for  the  following  concise  reflections  : 

1st. — The  'preacher  had  an  earnest  and  important  subject 
before  him.  It  was  to  present  Revelation  to  us  on  an  in- 
dependent basis,  as  the  communication  of  the  personal 
and  perfect  Jehovah,  and  not  a  mere  deduction  of  "  Ne- 
ology" or  "positive  science"; — that  the  information 
communicated  in  the  Bible,  and  its  economy  of  doc- 
trine, truth,  and  thought,  are  no  result  of  mere  human 
theories,  or  conclusion  from  the  perfection  or  improve- 
ments of  science ;  but  a  body  of  divine  intelligence  to 
lis,  in  our  darkness  and  our  need.  In  a  word,  that  the 
Bible  is  a  revelation  of  God  to  us,  and  not  a  gi'owth 
from  us,  and  that  no  perfection  of  science  would  have 
attained  to  it, — no  deduction  of  philosophy  bring  it, — 
that  it  came  direct  from  the  bosom  of  God,  and  not 
through  the  researches  of  men,  and  is  to  be  apprehend- 
ed and  accepted  as  from  Him,  on  the  testimony  and  ev- 
idence which  it  furnishes,  and  is  to  be  trusted  in  as  such. 
This  surely  is  a  legitimate  design :  no  one  need  to  find 
fault  with  it.  It  places  the  Bible  on  a  pedestal  of  its 
own,  wholly  aside  from  and  above  all  systems  of  mere 
human  device, — the  product  of  divine  wisdom  and  good- 
ness, and  not  of  the  intellect  and  skill  of  man.  Hence 
the  competency  and  authority  of  the  Bible,  as  a  divine 
manifestation,  and  forever  removed  above  the  level  of 
all  merely  human  systems  of  religious  faith. 

2d. — Dr.  P.  set  in  needless  contrast  and  antagonism  Rea- 


KEV.    DR.    PUSEY   AT   OXFORD.  203 

son  and  Revelation.  This  was  indeed  the  prominent 
characteristic  and  vice  of  the  sermon.  It  mistook  the 
perverse  reasonings  of  men,  benighted  and  besotted,  for 
reason  itself  and  the  effort  to  attain  it.  It  forgot  that 
Revelation  comes  from  the  reason  of  God,  and  is  a  mes- 
sage of  his  intelligence  to  ours ;  and  that  from  the  verj- 
terras  of  the  communication,  we  are  expected  to  appre- 
hend and  appreciate  it.  It  is  from  reason,  to  reason, — 
from  the  intelligence  of  God,  to  the  intelligence  of  man. 
But  for  this  there  would  be  no  relevancy  in  it.  As  well 
speak  to  brutes  or  trees,  if  there  can  be  no  intelligent 
response  to  the  utterance  you  make.  Indeed,  without 
this  there  could  be  no  revelation.  It  must  be  made  to 
the  principles  of  truth  inherent  in  the  mind,  and  be  ta- 
ken up  by  the  reason  and  conscience  in  order  to  be  ot 
any  use  :  it  must  be  a  revelation.  I  must  see  what  it  is, 
and  that  it  is  true,  or  I  cannot  believe  it.  My  faith  must 
have  a  reasonable  ground,  or  it  is  no  faith.  It  must 
found  in  my  convictions,  or  it  will  not  hold  on  me.  The 
communication  must  be  made  to  my  intelligence,  and 
give  the  reason  for  my  crediting  it.  It  is  a  truth,  or  it 
cannot  be  communicated.  It  is  of  the  reason  of  God  or 
it  could  not  be.  It  is  an  apprehensible  truth,  or  I  could 
not  receive  it,  or  be  responsible  for  it.  I  may  not  know 
all  the  relations  of  it,  but  I  must  know  what  it  is,  and 
that  it  is  true,  and  have  a  reasonable  conviction  of  its 
truth,  or  I  cannot  put  my  trust  in  it.  My  faith  must 
follow  my  convictions.  I  may  not  know  all  the  reasons 
for  a  given  truth,  but  it  is  revealed  to  me  for  my  appre- 
ciation and  confidence,  and  I  will  go  on  to  know  more 
and  more  of  it.     God  gives  me  life  and  strength.     He 


204  REV.    DR.    PUSEY    AT    OXFORD. 

is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all.  Christ  is  the 
light  of  the  world,  and  has  said  that  his  people  are  so 
too — in  their  measure,  doubtless.  Reason  assures  me  of 
the  reason  of  God,  and  that  all  revealed  truth  is  reason- 
able, and  that  the  supposition  of  its  being  otherwise  is 
absurd.  I  know  that  God  would  not  and  could  not  re- 
veal what  was  not  true  and  reasonable,  and  that  revela- 
tion, moreover,  is  given  for  my  instruction  and  benefit, 
and  that  I  may  be  more  acquainted  with  Him  and  His 
works  and  ways,  and  that  He  would  rather  have  me 
know  more  than  less  of  revealed  truth,  and  of  its  rea- 
sons and  gi'ounds,  and  be  going  on  unto  perfection,  and 
so  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God.  The  proof  is 
two-fold: — Divine  truth  brought  to  the  mind,  and  the 
mind  acting  intelligently  on  it,  and  including  faith  in  it. 
God  would  not  require  us  to  believe  that  for  which  He 
did  not  give  us  good  reason  for  believing.  This  reason 
might  lie  in  the  comprehension  of  the  thing  to  be  be- 
lieved,— in  the  relations  of  it,  or  in  our  knowledge  of 
Him  as  its  Revelator.  In  any  case  the  faith  would  be 
intelligent  and  reasonable.  And  hence  the  coincidence 
of  reason  and  faith,  and  the  consent  and  harmony  be- 
tween them ; — and  the  failure  of  Dr.  Pusey  was  in  the 
lack  of  analysis  just  here.  It  was  in  allowing  reason 
to  be  subsidized  by  Neologists  and  positive-science  men, 
and  unwittingly  admitting  the  conclusion  that  faith  is 
without  reason,  and  antagonistic  to  it,  and  toiling  on 
continually  against  the  irrepressible  convictions  of  men, 
that  what  they  may  not  see  any  reason  for,  they  need 
not  believe.  Religion  cannot  afford  such  a  sacrifice, 
and  it  was  evident  that  the  good  Dr.  winced  in  view 


REV.    DK.    PUSEY   AT   OXFORD.  205 

of  the  weakness  of  his  positions,  while  pleading  for 
faith  at  the  expense  of  reason,  until  at  length  he  identi- 
fied cause  and  effect,  spoke  of  those  intuitions  of  mind 
which  apprehend  the  subject  matter  of  revelation  and 
to  which  it  is  made,  and  whose  convictions  are  the 
gi'ound  of  faith  and  which  make  it  reasonable — as  faith 
itself,  and  as  being  intuitions  of  faith,  and  thus  enabling 
him  to  cany  on  his  war  against  reason  while  pleading 
the  claims  of  faith.  His  method  was  involved,  and  his 
logic  limping,  and  his  conclusions  lacking  in  force,  for 
want  of  distinction  and  precision  of  thought  here.  He 
failed  to  distinguish  between  the  lower  offices  of  the 
understanding  in  matters  of  sense  and  the  higher  one 
of  reason,  in  apprehending  moral  and  divine  truth,  and 
thus  ignored  its  office  work  and  prerogative  in  the  mat- 
ter of  Revelation.  But  this  prerogative,  reason,  of  ne- 
cessity, takes.  Why  believe  the  Bible  and  not  the  book 
of  Mormon  or  the  Koran"?  To  what  is  the  appeal 
made  ?  Why  not  treat  all  pretenders  alike ;  and  who 
shall  be  judged,  and  what  the  umpire  and  tribunal  to 
which  they  must  come,  and  where  their  respective  claims 
must  be  adjudicated  ?  What,  but  the  reason  that  God 
has  given  us,  and  with  which  he  communicates  in  a 
Revelation  ?  Suppose  the  Bible  failed  in  its  morality, 
or  acknowledged  the  existence  of  two  Gods,  or  denied 
that  virtue  is  obligatory  or  vice  wrong  ?  Would  not  this 
be  fatal  to  it  ?  and  why  ?  It  would  then  compromit  the 
first  truths  of  reason,  and  assert  what  we  know  could 
not  be  true.  Why  seek  to  justify  the  doctrines  of  Rev- 
elation to  the  principles  of  the  being  that  God  has  given 
us.  or  write  a  book  on  theology,  or  preach  a  sermon,  or 


206  REV.    DR.    PL'SEY   AT   OXFORD. 

distribute  a  tract  1  This  foray  on  reason,  in  the  matter 
of  Revelation,  is  worse  than  idle.  It  is  all  a  mislead. 
It  is  like  giving  up  the  citadel  to  the  enemy  in  the  hope 
of  weakening  some  of  his  outposts.  Neologists  and  the 
advocates  of  "  positive  science,"  whether  of  England  or 
of  any  other  country,  may  well  rejoice  over  the  surren- 
der we  thus  would  make.  Abnegate  the  province  of 
reason  in  respect  to  Revelation,  and  deny' that  truth 
revealed,  coming  from  the  reason  of  God,  to  that  he  has 
given  us,  is  not  apprehensible  to  reason  and  approved 
of  it,  and  that  to  believe  in  Revelation  is  not  a  dictate 
of  reason,  and,  in  the  highest  and  best  sense,  is  at  once 
to  fortify  the  rampart  of  error  and  undermine  the  found- 
ations of  faith.  What  doctrine  of  the  Bible  is  unrea- 
sonable? What  precept  of  it  shall  reason  reject?  She 
will  not  foreshow  the  contents  of  Revelation,  but  will 
accept  its  light  given  and  seek  its  help  in  solving  eveiy 
problem  of  humanity  and  truth.  Men  are  infidels  for 
want  of  light  or  of  heart,  and  not  because  it  is  reason- 
able to  be  so.  They  lack  faith  because  they  do  not  ap- 
prehend the  grounds  of  it,  or  because  they  hold  the 
truth  in  unrighteousness.  To  repudiate  reason  is  not 
the  way  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Chm-ch.  It  will  not 
be  the  method  of  her  future  advance  to  the  empire  of 
the  world.  She  will  become  a  power  in  the  earth  and 
move  on  to  the  conquest  of  the  nations,  very  much  as, 
under  God,  she  subsidizes  the  intellect  of  the  nations 
to  her  sway  and  commends  herself  to  every  man's  con- 
science in  the  sight  of  God. 

3d. — The  position  of  Dr.  P.  opens  the  ivay  for  all  manner 
of  vagaries  in  religious  belief  from  the  Bible,  and  legitima- 


REV.    DR.    rUSEY  AT   OXFORD.  207 

tizes  them.  It  is  this : — Revelation  is  made  to  faith  ;  it 
is  beyond  '*  the  limits  of  human  thought ;"  it  is  not  to 
be  reached  by  any  of  the  principles  of  truth  common  to 
men  or  known  to  the  human  mind ;  it  is  without  tests 
in  its  recipients  ;  it  is  an  economy  by  itself,  and  lies  in 
a  plane  of  its  own,  which  faith  embraces  and  communes 
Avith,  without  the  correspondence  of  the  other  principles 
of  mind,  and  thus  inaugurates  a  faith  without  discern- 
ment and  discretion,  "  blind  and  sightless,"  as  its  trans- 
Atlantic  apologist  would  say.  Faith  in  revelation  is 
without  "  insight  or  reason"  and  may  not  be  criticised. 
And  thus,  for  aught  that  the  position  admits,  one  faith 
is  as  good  as  another,  and  all  faiths  are  equally  legiti- 
mate, and  it  may  be  to  the  latent  action  of  this  princi- 
ple on  the  Doctor's  own  mind,  that  his  leanings  to 
Romanism  are  due,  and  to  all  that  pomp  and  ceremony 
of  a  liturgic  service  which  go  to  constitute  the  staple 
of  Puseyism  as  it  lies  in  the  public  mind.  The  Ana- 
baptists of  Germany  asserted  their  faith  in  the  Bible, 
and  so  did  Socinus  and  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  Why 
not  accept  their  faith !  Romanists  believe  that  the 
bread  and  wine  of  the  eucharist  become  literally  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ.  Who  shall  challenge  it  % 
Dr.  Pusey  scarcely  does.  Why  not  adopt  all  the  frip- 
peiy  of  the  historic  and  legendary  service  of  the  Vatican, 
as  you  may  see  it  in  Rome  or  Paris,  or  even  nearer 
home  ?  It  is  because  the  Bible  was  given  to  our  intel- 
ligent inspection  and  apprehension,  and  we  do  not  find 
this  prudery  and  nonsense  there,  and  would  not  justify 
or  put  ourselves  on  the  level  of  the  faith  that  blindly 
says  it  does.     We  do  not  stultify  ourselves  in  accepting 


208  REV.    DR.    PUSEY   AT   OXFORD. 

revelation.  We  put  it  to  the  intelligence  for  whose 
benefit  it  was  sent ;  we  submit  it  to  the  tests  of  reason 
all  the  way,  as  to  whether  it  be  a  revelation,  and  as  to 
what  it  contains,  and  as  to  whether  its  contents  can  be 
true.  It  brings  news; — news  that  we  should  never 
otherwise  get,  but  we  must  test  it  in  these  respects  and 
see  that  for  aught  we  know  it  may  be  true,  and  whether 
it  is  also  so  attested  from  on  high  as  that  it  must  be 
true,  and  authoritatively  given,  and  obligatory.  This  is 
the  doctrine  of  Protestantism  and  of  all  intelligent  ap- 
prehension and  use  of  the  Word  of  God.  And  there  is 
no  difficulty  or  danger  in  this.  It  contains  inevitably 
the  terms  of  a  reliable  faith — a  faith  intelligent  and  re- 
sponsible. Why  believe  in  the  Trinity  and  not  in  its 
mode?  The  one  is  revealed,  and,  for  aught  we  know, 
can  be  true  as  revealed,  and  moreover,  has  analogies 
elsewhere  in  nature  and  thought ;  the  other  is  not  re- 
vealed. So  in  all  the  Bible.  Its  revelations  are  so 
allied  to  truths  otherwise  known,  are  so  verified  by  the 
facts  of  history,  and  its  doctrines  so  verified  by  the 
principles  of  all  truth  in  the  mind,  or  are  so  attested  by 
Him,  whom  reason  describes  as  a  God  of  truth,  that 
faith  is  every  way  reasonable  and  should  be  ready, 
prompt  and  universal — and  the  solution  of  the  problem 
is  easy  and  natural.  God  is  one — one  in  nature,  in  the 
Bible  and  in  the  intelligent  being  that  He  has  given  us. 
He  never  contradicts  himself  He  may  make  commun- 
ications to  us,  but  he  will  not  contravene  the  reason  He 
has  given  us.  He  shall  throw  floods  of  light  on  our 
pathway,  as  need  shall  be,  but  all  in  accordance  with 
the  economy  of  vision  we  have,  and  such  as  shall  make 


REV.    DR.    PUSEY   AT   OXFORD.  209 

it  the  highest  element  and  function  of  intellect  and  con- 
science to  approve.  Revelation  is  an  addition  to  our 
knowledge,  and  for  the  gi-owth  and  culture  of  the  mind 
and  heart,  and  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
■  of  truth  and  thought  that  are  in  and  of  us.  It  is  an 
advancement  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  in  all  right- 
eousness; and  how  can  it  contradict  or  repudiate  the 
laws  of  mind,  through  which,  if  at  all,  we  must  make 
advances.  Let  us  not  give  the  citadel  to  the  enemy. 
Let  us  regard  Revelation  as  a  help  to  reason,  and  not 
the  antagonist  of  it,  and  faith  in  it  as  the  highest  reason, 
and  not  a  rhapsody  of  the  imagination  for  which  no  in- 
telligent account  can  be  given;  and  in  our  ignorance 
and  sin,  let  us  thankfully  accept  light  from  any  and 
every  quarter,  and  especially  from  the  pages  of  that 
Book  which  is  sent  to  us  from  the  bosom  of  infinite 
reason  and  goodness,  in  hope  of  the  day  when  we  "  shall 
no  more  see  in  part,  or  prophesy  in  part,  but  see  as  we 
are  seen,  and  know  as  we  are  known." 


14 


210  THE   AMERICAN   QUESTION. 


LECTURE  VII. 

"THE  ATTITUDE  OF  CHRISTIAN  EUROPE  ON  THE 
AMERICAN  QUESTION." 

I  may  be  expected  to  take  a  special  interest  in  this 
question,  having  met  the  "Evangelical  Alliance"  at  Ge- 
neva, Switzerland,  in  September  last,  and  having  since 
visited  different  portions  of  England  and  the  Continent, 
and  while  all  eyes  and  hearts  were  intent  on  the  strug- 
gle going  on  in  this  country,  and  on  its  bearings  upon 
the  interests  of  humanity  and  freedom  and  the  cause  of 
God. 

The  question  has  a  two-fold  reference  to  England  and 
the  nations  beyond,  and  with  respect  to  each  has  char- 
acteristic features. 

England  has  been  censured  by  some  of  us,  and  by 
many  of  us,  it  may  be,  too  severely.  She  doubtless  is 
not  wanting  in  self-esteem,  and  her  politicians  would  be 
quick  to  improve  any  opportunity  of  exalting  her  insti- 
tutions at  the  expense  of  our  own.  They  have  domes- 
tic and  party  ends  to  subserve  in  so  doing.  But  the 
Government  has  not  been  betrayed  into  any  hostile  dem- 
onstration, and  the  people  are  yet  to  be  more  fully  heard 
from.  England  was  right  in  the  Trent  affair,  by  our 
own  acknowledgment,  and  since  then  her  utterances 
have  been  more  cordial  and  conciliatory.     We,  quite 


THE   AMERICAN   QUESTION.  211 

likely,  misunderstand  her  as  much  as  she  does  us,  and 
with  less  reason. 

Aside  from  merely  temporal  interests,  her  Christian 
sentiment  asks  mainly  after  the  influence  of  the  strug- 
gle on  the  slavery  question.  She  is  out  of  patience  that 
so  free  a  people  as  we  are,  and  from  whom  freedom 
has  expected  so  much,  should  be  so  long  hampered  by 
that  question;  she  does  not  know  what  is  implied  in 
restoring  the  Constitution,  the  Government,  and  Laws. 
She  significantly  asks,  "  Can  your  Constitution  and  Gov- 
ernment do  nothing  about  slavery  but  catch  fugitives 
from  it;  keep  four  millions  in  bondage  and  without 
rights,  and  sanction  the  hanging  of  John  Brown'?" 
She  sees  that  we  do  not  understand  ourselves  in  this 
struggle,  as  to  its  moral  intent,  and  have  varying  views, 
in  Congress  and  out,  all  the  way  from  the  New  York 
Herald  to  Dr.  Cheever,  and  says,  if  you  are  but  to  re- 
tmTi  to  the  day  of  compromises  and  concessions  to 
slavery,  we  have  no  heait  to  it.  British  ports,  British 
ships,  and  British  soil,  know  only  the  language  of  fi*ee- 
men,  and  we  wonder  that  after  so  long  a  trial  you  can- 
not say  so  too.  Their  language  is  to  us,  "  If  you  mean 
freedom  why  not  say  so,  and  especially  now,  and  to 
those  who  abjure  your  Constitution  and  have  risen  in 
arras  against  it.  The  restoration  of  the  Government 
with  slaveiy  they  have  not  much  interest  in,  the  restora- 
tion of  it  without  we  dare  not  afiirm." 

England  does  not  well  comprehend  onr  doctrine  of 
State  rights  and  local  law,  and  thinks  that  we  are  not 
true  to  our  own  convictions  of  the  cause  of  the  war  and 
the  real  animus  of  it,  in  the  attitude  that  we  take  in  it. 


212  THE    AMERICAN    QUESTION. 

She  would  have  shorter  logic  and  more  direct  issues 
with  the  main  evil  itself.  She  is  more  an  abolitionist 
than  we  are,  and  it  is  because  she  is  so,  and  not  because 
she  loves  cotton,  that  she  shows  less  sympathy  with  us 
than  she  otherwise  would. 

I  say  this  from  frequent  conversation  there  with  men 
of  large  acquaintance  and  intercourse  in  the  manufac- 
turing districts.  Hence  they  will  not  touch  our  cotton 
or  break  our  blockade ;  but  they  want  we  should  strike 
at  the  root  of  all  evil  and  do  it  up  for  all  time. 

We  are  probably  doing  all  we  can  to  accommodate 
them  and  ourselves  in  this  behalf,  as  time  will  show, 
and  have  only  to  say,  have  patience,  good  mother,  and 
you  will  be  satisfied.  We  are  doing  the  work  as  fast  as 
we  can,  and  as  well  as  we  know  how. 

England  is  mystified  with  om*  domestic  and  constitu- 
tional complications  with  slavery,  and  would  have  us 
now  break  away  from  them.  The  inherent  rights  of 
man,  as  man,  she  would  have  us  renew,  as  in  our  "  De- 
claration of  Independence."  She  is  enthusiastic  at  this 
point,  even  to  women  and  children.  She  boasts  of  the 
lights  of  manhood  in  respect  to  all  who  step  foot  on 
her  soil  at  home,  in  Canada,  or  elsewhere.  There  is  a 
no  more  universal  sentiment  in  England  than  this ;  and 
we  have  only  to  renew  that  Declaration  and  apply  it 
here,  to  wake  up  one  long,  loud  shout  of  applause  and 
sympathy  from  Land^s  End  to  ^^  Johnny  Groat's  house"  a 
few  politicians  and  aristocrats  excepted. 

Depend  upon  it  the  Christian  part  of  England  and 
her  people  generally  are  right  in  respect  to  the  elements 
of  this  struggle,  and  as  fast  as  they  can  appreciate  the 


THE   AifEEICAN   QUESTION.  213 

embaiTassments  of  our  position  in  relation  to  slavery  as 
connected  with  it  and  our  methods,  will  they  give  us 
their  "  God-send"  and  await  the  issue.  We  injure  our- 
selves by  doing  injustice  to  their  convictions,  or  making 
too  much  of  the  utterances  of  their  "yellow  plush"  press, 
or  being  too  ready  to  resent  a  little  of  John  BuUism 
that  may  now  and  then  crop  out.  A  more  unexception- 
able tone  of  sentiment  is  even  now  observable.  Fra- 
zer's  Magazine  for  February  has  an  able  article  by  J. 
Stuart  Mill,  that  is  all  we  could  ask  on  this  subject,  and 
is  refeiTed  to  as  such  by  Mr.  Bancroft  in  his  oration  on 
the  22d  inst.  It  should  be  largely  circulated  in  this, 
countiy.  Others  will  follow  that  will  be  satisfactory, 
and  while  we  are  at  some  loss  to  define  our  own  posi- 
tion in  respect  to  the  acknowledged  source  of  our 
troubles,  and  what  we  hope  to  do  with  it  in  the  end,  we 
may  well  afford  to  be  generous  in  construing  the  con- 
victions of  others  on  the  subject. 

But  I  pass  to  the  continent.  Europe  lies  under  two 
burdens:  the  oppression  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
State, — Romanism,  and  the  political  corporations  con- 
nected with  it.  Freedom  on  the  continent  is  rather  a 
sentiment  of  the  heart,  than  a  realized  idea.  It  is  a 
hope,  rather  than  an  enjoyment.  Thought  is  free,  and 
may  be  freely  expressed  within  certain  limits,  but  is 
hedged  in  on  every  side  with  oppressive  institutions. 

The  friends  of  freedom  and  human  rights  there  have 
long  looked  to  this  country,  as  its  established  home  and 
support.  They  expected  help  from  us,  in  the  solution 
of  problems,  yet  to  be  worked  out  there.  They  knew 
we  had  a  free  Church  and  an  open  Bible,  and  could 


214  THE    AMERICAN   QUESTION. 

hardly  understand  it,  that  we  should  yet  have  to  pass 
through  so  fiery  an  ordeal  in  establishing  the  freedom  of 
the  State.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  sympathy  of  that 
Congress  of  Nations  (I  may  call  it)  which  was  assembled 
at  Geneva.  They  were  the  "eZzV  of  all  Europe, — 
scholars,  clergymen,  Christians,  statesmen,  the  friends  of 
man  and  friends  of  God,  and  bent  in  soitow,  as  mani- 
fested by  inquu'ies  at  eveiy  turn  and  corner,  over  the 
fratricidal  war,  raging  here. 

This  manifested  itself  in  the  opening  speech  of  their 
President  (M.  A.  Naville)  on  our  reception,  as  he  said, 
"Welcome,  brethren  of  America,  who  have  quitted 
your  distant  homes  at  a  solemn  moment.  Our  thoughts 
carry  us  without  ceasing  to  the  soiTowful  crisis,  at  which 
you  have  anived.  The  United  States  are  not  forgotten 
in  our  prayers.  Our  firm  confidence  is  that  a  country 
which  has  done  so  much  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  can 
only  receive  blessing  in  the  end.  What  thanks  will  the 
Christians  of  Europe,  as  of  America,  render  on  the  day 
when  your  nohle  country  will  be  only,  and  everywhere, 
the  land  of  free  men  f 

The  American  meeting  of  the  Alliance,  for  which  a 
day  was  set  down,  was  looked  forward  to  with  much 
enquiry  and  expectation,  and  the  hope  often  expressed 
that  we  would  there  bring  out  the  American  question. 
The  opening  prayer  at  the  meeting  by  Rev.  Baptist  Noel 
of  London,  was  all  on  that  subject,  and  it  was  just  after 
the  affair  at  Bull  Run,  and  all  in  sympathy  with  the 
North  and  freedom.  And  as  addresses  that  followed 
from  the  American  Delegation  brought  out  the  moral 
elements  of  the  strife,  and  the  aims  and  hopes  of  the 


THE   AMERICAN   QUESTION.  215 

North  in  behalf  of  the  Union  as  connected  with  the 
cause  of  humanity  and  freedom  and  the  surrender  of 
the  institution  of  African  slavery  in  this  country,  the 
unwonted  applause  and  gi-atulations  of  the  meeting 
were  no  uncertain  proof  of  where  the  heart  was  on  the 
American  question. 

Pastor  Fisch  of  Paris  closed  the  meeting  with  prayer, 
audit  was  all  on  the  same  subject.  He  had  been  in 
this  country,  both  North  and  South.  He  knew  the  na- 
ture of  the  struggle,  and  his  intercessions  were  all  that 
the  utmost  advocates  for  human  rights,  the  success  of 
our  arms,  and  the  freedom  of  the  slave,  could  ask.  But 
the  congregation  had  by  this  time  become  too  much  in- 
terested in  the-  subject  to  be  contented  with  one  meet- 
ing, and,  led  oft'  by  Sir  Culling  Eardley  of  England,  a 
second  was  called  for.  At  that,  fmi;her  addresses  were 
made,  explanations  given,  and  the  resolution  presented, 
which  as  modified  by  the  General  Committee  on  the 
subject,  received  the  sanction  of  the  Alliance  as  a  whole, 
and  has  been  widely  cu'culated  both  in  Europe  and 
America. 

The  peculiar  excellence  and  value  of  this  paper,  was 
that  while  it  was  fully  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and 
freedom,  it  accepted  the  proclamation  of  our  own  Pres- 
ident, for  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  requested 
Europe  to  join  with  us  in  its  observance.  The  occasion 
was  to  some  extent  observed  over  the  water.  At  Paris 
the  American  Church  was  nearly  filled  on  that  day,  and 
a  deep  impression  made  by  the  sermon  of  Dr.  McClin- 
tock,  the  pastor,  who  preached  on  the  subject. 

We  have  all  read  Count  Gasparin's  book,  "  The  Up- 


216  THE    AMERICAN   QUESTION. 

rising  of  a  Great  People,"  and  noted  the  magnificent 
fulfillment  of  its  prophecies  and  its  logic,  in  events  that 
have  followed.  He  is  one  of  the  finest  scholars,  and 
most  distinguished  Chiistian  statesmen  of  the  age,  and 
with  such  men  as  he  is,  to  enlighten  France  and  the 
Continent,  and  Stuart  Mill  and  others  to  catechize  Eng- 
land, and  such  men,  as  we  may  trustfully  boast  of,  to 
direct  and  lead  our  armies  and  fight  our  battles,  under 
Him  on  high  to  whom  we  would  commit  our  cause, 
may  we  not  expect  results  that  will  gladden  both  hem- 
ispheres, in  giving  stability  and  value  to  our  govern- 
ment, unity  to  our  country,  and  equal  rights  as  fi'ee 
men,  to  all  of  eveiy  name,  and  hue,  and  cast  ? 


THE  FUTURE  OF  EUROPE.  217 


•    LECTURE  Vni. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  EUROPE. 

Europe  is  the  centre  of  the  world's  civilization. 
Since  the  fall  of  the  ancient  empires,  the  reconstruction 
of  society  has  been  there.  Asia  has  long  been  sunk 
away  into  the  quietude  and  stagnation  of  a  heathen  or 
half  heathen  state,  and  receives  all  her  symptoms  of  re- 
vivescence  and  life,  in  influences  from  the  land  of  the 
west.  Africa,  with  what  of  ancient  civilization  she 
boasted,  in  the  countries  bordering  on  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  in  Egypt,  is  yet  an  unredeemed,  unexplored 
continent,  tipped  with  the  silvery  touch  of  modern  ideas 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  on  a  few  other  points, 
while  America  is  yet  a  new  land,  a  transplant  from 
Europe,  and  buoyant  with  the  blossoms  of  hope,  but 
not  yet  aiTived  into  the  maturity  and  fruitage  of  years 
in  its  national  life. 

On  the  European  continent,  the  ancient  races  of  the 
earth  have  met  and  mingled,  have  stmggled  for  centuries 
against  the  darkness  of  the  past,  and  essayed  a  greater 
privilege  in  art  and  science  for  the  future,  and  there 
have  they  been  wrought  into  empires  that  now  largely 
shape  and  control  the  destinies  of  mankind.  America 
is  already  a  power  in  this  respect,  and  will  be  increasing- 
ly so,  but  the  central  forces  are  in  Europe.  And  they 
seem  not  to  have  spent  their  strength.     New  dynasties 


218  THE  FUTURE  OF  EUROPE. 

aiise,  and  new  modifications  of  empire  are  taken  on, 
and  will  be.  But  these  mil  only  be  improvements  and 
the  increase  of  strength.  Humanity  will  move  on,  with 
an  ever  augmenting  accumulation  of  ideas,  and  a  higher 
type  of  Christian  civilization.  Giant  impediments  will 
be  undermined  and  disappear ;  new  elements  enter  into 
the  composition  of  the  forces  of  the  future,  and  new  re- 
sults be  wrought  out  under  that  Divine  Providence 
which  is  beneficent  in  its  aims,  and  secure  of  its  purpose. 
What,  then,  will  be  the  future  of  that  continent,  and 
what  the  forces  that  shall  control  it  ? 

Prophecy  is  not  the  gift  of  ordinary  generations,  or 
even  of  observant  minds.  We  can  but  roughly  forecast 
the  future  from  the  past,  and  see  a  little  way  before  us 
and  that  imperfectly. 

The  human  mind  has  laws,  and  so  has  society  and 
Divine  Providence.  These  are  potential  and  perduring. 
From  them  we  may  calculate  the  composition  of  forces 
which  shape  the  present,  and  disclose  proximately  the 
overcoming. 

Europe  is  under  the  sway  of  thi-ee  races  of  people, 
which,  discarding  the  forgotten  and  ambiguous  epithets 
of  the  past,  we  may  name  in  the  language  of  the  pres- 
ent, as  the  English,  the  French  and  the  German.  To 
this  must  now  be  added  the  Russian,  as  a  power  more 
recently  known  and  acknowledged. 

These  races  and  nations  have  distinct  characteristics 
and  appropriate  parts  to  play  in  the  progi'ess  of  European 
society,  and  in  the  development  of  that  which  shall  be. 
They  are  built  on  different  bases,  have  ideas  peculiar  to 
each,  and  institutions  and  aims  in  which  the  others  do 


THE  FUTURE  OF  EUROPE.  219 

not  sympathize.  And  yet  human  nature  is  everywhere 
essentially  the  same.  Man  is  one,  and  so  is  the  Prov- 
idence of  God,  and  both  are  tending  in  different  forms, 
and  under  various  phases,  to  a  common  and  grand 
result :  the  improvement  and  benefit  of  the  race  and 
the  millennial  state  of  the  church. 

The  States  of  Europe  are  like  Nebuchadnezzar's  im- 
age, in  which  some  parts  and  elements  were  of  durable 
material  and  some  of  muy  clay.  Of  the  effete  and 
worn  out  systems  and  habitudes  of  things  there,  it  is 
safe  to  conclude  that  the  matter  of  the  "  temporalities  of 
the  churcJi'  of  Rome  is  one.  This  has  long  rested  like 
night-mare  on  cabinets  and  kingdoms,  but  events  indi- 
cate its  speedy  consummation. 

Rome  is  the  •  centre  of  Italy,  and  the  natural  seat  of 
empire  for  it.  Victor  Emanuel  and  his  Cabinet  are 
anxious  to  get  there,  and  proclaim  his  constitution  from 
the  steps  of  the  "Quirinal."  As  yet,  French  troops 
sustain  the  Pope  at  Rome,  and  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  it,  against  the  wishes  of  the  people  themselves  and 
the  desire  of  all  the  rest  of  Italy.  But  there  is  a  double 
game  in  all  this,  which  is  well  understood  both  at  the 
Court  of  Turin  and  at  the  Tuilleries.  Napoleon  has 
held,  and  yet  holds,  Rome,  to  keep  Austria  out  of  it, 
and  guards  the  Pope  to  keep  others  from  doing  it.  He 
would  have  the.  key  himself  and  choose  the  time  for 
surrendering  it.  He  is  loyal  to  the  cause  of  a  united 
Italy  under  Victor  Emanuel,  and  is  quite  contented 
with  the  influence  which  he  would  have  there,  through 
the  Prince  Napoleon  and  his  wife  Clotilde,  who  is  a 


220  THE  FUTURE  OF  EUROPE. 

daughter  of  Victor  Emanuel,  and  proud  of  her  lineage 
from  the  house  of  Savoy. 

It  is  for  that  house  transfen-ed  to  Italy  that  Rome  is 
kept.  The  obstacles  to  its  surrender  hitherto,  lie  in 
France  and  over  Catholic  Em-ope.  The  question  of  the 
temporalities  of  the  church  is  involved,  and  even  the 
French  clergy  and  the  Catholic  dignitaries  there,  are 
not  yet  reconciled  to  the  Pope's  being  shorn  of  his 
temporal  dominion.  Even  protestant  Guizot  has  of  late, 
in  an  elaborate  article,  appeared  against  it.  His  argu- 
ment is  simply  this,  that  as  temporal  jurisdiction  is  and 
has  been  the  chosen  method  of  that  church,  she  would  be 
denied  her  privilege  without  it,  not  aware  that  there  are 
many  things,  that  the  Church  of  Rome  has  chosen,  be- 
sides temporal  dominion  and  the  dungeons  of  the  Inqui- 
sition and  the  *'  auto  de  fe,"  that  the  course  of  progress 
and  the  world's  future  must  deny  men. 

Napoleon's  greatest  struggle  in  this  matter  is  with 
the  Romanism  of  France  itself,  and  the  disloyal  utter- 
ances of  his  own  clergy.  He  is  temperately  rebuking 
them,  and  watching  the  signs  of  decay  in  the  good  old 
Pope,  and  anticipating  his  obsequies  as  the  apology  and 
the  period  of  change  and  action. 

This  must  soon  come,  and  then,  too,  if  not  before, 
will  come  the  last  and  successful  struggle  for  Venetia, 
with  France  to  sustain  the  rightful  claims  of  Italy,  and 
cementing  the  two  nations  still  more  together  in  a  com- 
mon policy,  with  common  interests  at  stake.  The  Med- 
iterranean is  now  sometimes  called  a  "  French  Lake," 
and  it  meets  entirely  the  views  of  Napoleon  that  Italy 
should  be  held  by  a  friendly  obligated  power.     Hence- 


THE  FUTURE  OP  EUROPE.  221 

forth,  and  for  the  dynasties  that  yet  appear,  they  are  to 
the  rest  of  Europe  and  its  future,  substantially  one. 
And  there  is  an  element  of  progress  in  them,  that  is 
sometimes  overlooked.  They  have  the  American  idea 
of  civil  government  as  emanating  from  the  people,  and 
e*xisting  on  the  consent  and  suffrage  of  the  governed. 
It  was  a  large  stride  in  that  direction  when  Napoleon 
was  made  Emperor  by  the  votes  of  his  people  and 
through  the  ballot-box  of  France.  How  much  of  priv- 
ilege and  how  much  of  constraint  ruled  the  hour,  we 
cannot  say.  But  the  form  was  democratic.  It  inaug- 
urated the  doctrine  that  the  people  rale,  and  that  author- 
ity is  by  the  consent  of  the  governed.  It  perpetuated 
the  French  Revolution  and  makes  the  present  Emperor, 
in  his  robes,  a  child  of  it.  This  is  claimed  for  him  by 
the  Prince  Napoleon,  his  cousin,  in  open  debate  in  the 
French  Chambers,  and  would  not  be  denied  by  himself, 
if  his  proverbial  taciturnity  would  deem  politic  an  utter- 
ance on  the  .subject.  And  if  his  own  son  should,  after 
a  few  years,  be  proposed  as  heir  apparent  to  the  throne, 
the  suffrages  of  the  2iYmy  first,  perhaps,  and  then  of  the 
people,  will  be  secured  to  that  effect. 

A  much  more  significant  advance  and  omen  of  the 
future  is  the  popular  vote  of  Italy.  Victor  Emanuel  has 
not  moved  a  step  without  it.  He  has  asked  it  in  Naples, 
Sicily  and  the  Duchies,  and  elsewhere.  Tuscany  owns 
him  as  her  elected  king,  and  set  up  his  throne  in  the 
Industrial  Exhibition  in  Florence,  October,  1862,  to  in- 
augurate it.  The  voting  too  is  of  the  nature  of  univer- 
sal suffrage,  and  fully  endorses  the  American  idea  of 
civil  government,  that  authority  emanates  from  the  peo- 


222  THE  FUTURE  OP  EUROPE. 

pie.  It  will  not  soon  be  forgotten.  It  springs  from  the 
law  of  progress,  and  will  be  among  the  mementos  and 
the  forces  which  will  enfranchise  and  regenerate  Italy 
and  set  her  among  the  foremost  of  kingdoms  in  the 
world's  civilization  and  futm-e. 

To  Italy,  France  will  be  adjunct,  in  the  matter  of  pro- 
gi-ess.  Her  Emperor  says  he  knows  his  epoch, — that 
he  has  got  glory  enough  in  wai',  and  seeks  the  arts  of 
peace  and  the  industrial  and  educational  elevation  of  his 
people.  He  is  a  \\Titer  and  a  thinker,  and  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  dynasty  can  take  his  course.  His  mind  is 
eminently  philosophical  and  forecasting.  His  book  on 
the  unity  and  freedom  of  Italy  was  wi'itten  years  ago, 
and  has  in  it  many  far-reaching  principles  on  popular 
rights  and  representative  government.  He  knows  what 
Europe  needs,  and  regards  with  no  favor  the  old  dynas- 
ties and  pledged  civil  coi-porations  of  the  papal  school. 
He  is  cautious  and  non-committal,  but  sees  his  place  and 
his  glory,  at  the  head  of  free  thought  and  popular  rights 
on  the  continent  of  Europe.  He  is  doubtless  in  corres- 
pondence with  Kossuth  and  the  protector  of  the  Hun- 
garian movement,  and  when  Garibaldi  gets  Venetia  for 
Italy,  and  the  question  of  Hungary  comes  up,  he  will  be 
found  the  friend  of  the  Magyar  and  of  the  restoration  of 
his  power.  That  day  is  hastening  on,  and  with  it  will 
come  a  gi-eat  advance  of  popular  privilege  and  immunity 
for  the  South  of  Europe,  sustained  by  the  material  guai-an- 
tees  and  leading  co-operation  of  France  and  Italy.  The 
throne  of  Austria  is  built  on  aggression  and  wrong. 
From  a  moderate  principality  of  Germany,  it  has,  by 
every  method  of  strategy  and  war,  beat  down  its  neigh- 


THE  FUTURE  OP  EUROPE.  223 

bors,  and,  for  centuries,  under  the  lead  of  the  astute  and 
unscrupulous  Hapsbui'gs,  claimed  to  be  the  central  power 
of  the  continent.  She  has  been,  and  is,  bigotedly  cath- 
olic. Her  king  and  government  are  in  sworn  league 
and  sei-vility  to  Rome,  and  must  share  her  destiny. 

It  is  wonderful  how  papal  courts  and  countries  are 
behind  the  age ;  slow  in  progress ;  clinging  to  the  past ; 
stereotyped  to  the  infallibility  of  mother  church  ;  trust- 
ing to  the  Pope  to  do  their  thinking  for  them,  while  he 
and  his  subordinates  think  most  how  they  shall  drug  and 
rule  the  civil  power.  Look  at  poor  impoverished  Mex- 
ico on  this  side  of  the  water,  and  all  South  America 
indeed ;  at  Spain  and  the  Popish  cantons  of  Switzerland. 
Austria  repudiates  the  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty, 
and  is  stout  for  the  divine  right  of  kings.  She  uttered 
her  veto,  when  the  ballot  box  came  to  Italy,  and  when 
it  asked  the  Tuscans,  and  the  people  of  Modena  and 
Parma,  who  should  rule  over  them.  She  is  wedded  to 
the  weal  and  fortunes  of  the  Pope,  and  must  be  includ- 
ed in  them.  It  is  the  afternoon  of  their  power.  The 
Hapsburghs  have  more  enemies  than  they  can  contend 
against,  and  must,  with  the  elements  of  misrule  and 
false  rule,  which  they  have  so  long  harbored,  sink  Aus- 
tria into  comparative  littleness  and  obscurity  again  be- 
fore the  forces  of  the  future. 

Hungary  will  again  be  a  power,  and  be  one  in  the 
direction  and  interest  of  the  franchises  of  the  people, 
and  will  largely  influence  the  future  of  south-eastern 
Europe.  A  new  nation,  with  the  consent  of  Russia, 
will  probably  be  set  oiF  on  the  banks  of  the  lower  Dan- 
ube, and  be  a  dividing  limit  between  it  and  Turkey. 


224  THE  FUTURE  OP  EUROPE. 

The  Bulgai-ian  chui'ch  has  akeady  asserted  independence, 
and  though  cloven  down  at  present,  will  rise  again  and 
under  the  tuition  of  American  Missions  and  other 
sources  of  light,  appear  in  the  interest  of  fi-eedom. 

The  German  States,  with  Prussia  at  their  head,  will 
undoubtedly  be  a  factor  in  the  future  of  Europe,  but 
not  so  decidedly  as  others  already  named.  Some  of 
them  are  yet  Roman  Catholic,  and  they  are  also  check- 
mated in  then*  general  influence,  by  their  great  number 
and  minute  policy.  The  scholars  of  Germany  will  con- 
tinue their  explorations  in  the  domain  of  ideas,  and  as 
heretofore  will  keep  giving  to  the  world  the  materials 
of  knowledge,  but  others  will  construct  them  into  sys- 
tems and  control  governments  thereby.  Prussia  and 
the  subordinate  States,  with  perhaps  Belgium  and  Hol- 
land, will  do  for  a  balance  wheel  at  the  centre,  or  a 
make  weight  for  progress  in  the  future  of  Em*ope;  the 
electrifying  agencies  will  be  elsewhere.  The  Bona- 
partes  and  the  Garibaldis  will  be  born  in  warmer  lati- 
tudes, and  be  nursed  by  more  impetuous  and  fervid 
skies. 

Russia  is  a  recent  element  of  power  in  Europe,  but 
her  voice  will  be  heard,  as  now,  and  for  the  century 
back,  in  the  arrangements  of  the  future.  Her  policy  at 
present  the  most  resembles  that  of  Napoleon.  Her  con- 
siderate Emperor  is  quite  content  to  develop  the  material 
resources  of  his  people  and  remove  hindrances  out  of 
the  way  of  their  collective  prosperity  and  greatness. 
Hence  he  is  undermining  local  aristocracies,  liberating 
serfs  by  millions,  and  endeavoiing  to  bring  the  varied 
nationalities  over  his  wide  domains,  into  shape  and  ho- 


THE  FUTURE  OF  EUROPE.  225 

mogeneity.  He  has  many  advantages,  and  much  to  do, 
and  what  the  result  will  be  is  yet  a  problem,  though  it 
bids  fair  to  bring  out  Russia  as  a  first-rate  power  for 
good  in  the  more  distant  future. 

Leaving  the  other  Scandinavian  nations  of  the  north, 
as  also  those  of  the  southern  peninsula,  (Spain  and  Por- 
tugal,) to  the  subordinate  destiny  .  which  Providence 
allots  them,  I  come  eventually  to  England,  and  her  de- 
pendencies, as  a  power  in  moulding  the  futm*e  of  the 
continent  in  which  she  has  had  so  large  an  influence  in 
ages  past. 

England  is  a  cosmopolitan  empire,  separated  by  water 
from  the  rest  of  Europe.  Her  dominions  belt  the  globe. 
She  has  long  monopolized  the  commerce  of  the  seas, 
and  grown  rich  on  the  traffic  of  all  nations.  Others  are 
now  contesting  it  with  her,  but  as  the  wealth  of  the 
world  is  only  beginning  to  be  developed,  there  is  room 
for  all,  with  mutual  advantage  to  each.  The  commer- 
cial resom'ces,  the  intelligence  and  Christianity  of  Eng- 
land will  give  her  a  large  it  not  commanding  influence 
in  the  future  of  Europe.  The  great  question  will  turn 
on  the  matter  of  religions.  The  contest  on  that  con- 
tinent will  be  between  Protestantism  and  Romanism, 
and  the  governments  under  their  sway.  This  is  the 
general  conviction  in  Europe  now,  and  her  diplomats 
are  wistfully  watching  for,  and  providing  against  it.  In 
the  meantime  Romanism  is  getting  into  conflict  with 
the  civil  power,  and  is  beleaguered  by  her  own  doctrine 
of  unity  and  infallibility.  She  must  never  give  up  a 
point,  and  yet  there  are  some  points  she  must  give  up. 
She  will  never  yield,  but  under  protest,  the  marches  and 
15 


226  THE  FUTURE  OP  EUROPE. 

the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  and  yet  the  civil  power 
claims  them,  and  will  get  them,  and  should  have  them. 
She  never  had  any  rights  fairly  vested  in  them.  Her 
pretensions  are  those  no  spiritual  power  should  set  up, 
and  are  in  dereliction  of  the  fundamental  aphorism  of 
Jesus — "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  These  pre- 
tensions and  this  persistence  in  them  perplex  and  weak- 
en her,  and  will  be  to  her  an  element  of  subsidence  and 
decay. 

Popery  is  eminently  a  state  religion,  and  enforces  its 
claims  in  league  with  the  civil  power.  This  is  altogeth- 
er abnormal,  and  is  growing  unpopular  among  the  more 
intelligent  classes  of  people  and  must  be  repudiated  by 
the  future.  State  complication  will  yet  rend  the  Catholic 
Church.  She  will  have  eventually  to  throw  herself  upon 
intelligent  issues,  and  her  claims  to  regard,  as  an  econo- 
my of  belief  and  practice :  and  there  she  will  fail. 
She  must  be  modified,  or  be  lost.  The  world  will  have 
free  thought,  and  the  free  expression  of  it.  It  will  have 
an  intelligent  faith,  and  master  the  impediments  that 
Romanism  has  thrown  in  the  way.  The  future  agita- 
tions of  Europe  will  turn  increasingly  in  this  direction. 
They  will  be  mainly  moral  issues,  and  England  and 
France,  with  Italy,  will  be  in  the  advance  guard  of  them. 
Napoleon  III  has  already  claimed  that  France  is  the 
only  power  in  Europe  that  will  go  to  war  for  "  an  idea." 
Other  nations  will  do  it  too.  The  masses  will  be  stirred 
on  the  question  of  human  rights,  both  in  the  State  and 
the  Church,  both  in  law  and  religion ;  conscience  will 
have  increasing  sway ;  other  Garibaldis  will  arise  to 
clear  the  track  for  freedom ;  other  Whitfields  and  Wes- 


THE  FUTURE  OF  EUROPE.  227 

leys  and  Rouges  and  Passaglias  and  Count  de  Gaspierres 
to  preach  a  spiritual  gospel  from  an  open  Bible,  and 
Europe  rejoice  in  a  regeneration  from  on  high.  The 
time  may  not  be  yet,  but  is  coming.  We  connect  the 
present  aspect  of  things,  as  we  have  a  right  to,  with 
the  recorded  purpose  and  promise  of  God.  Paris  has 
more  evangelical  eifort  now,  than  for  a  long  time  before, 
and  revivals  of  religion,  in  the  American  sense,  are  en- 
joyed in  some  of  its  suburbs  and  small  protestant  con- 
gregations. So  in  Lyons,  Havre,  and  other  places  in 
France.  Napoleon  sees  his  glory  in  the  line  of  increas- 
ing intelligence,  and  free  thought  and  the  rights  of  hu- 
manity in  Europe,  and  as  policy  shall  admit,  will  be 
found  in  the  front  ranks  on  the  car  of  progress.  The 
English  are  among  the  freest  people  in  the  world. 
They  have  taxes  but  they  have  freedom  of  thought,  and 
of  speech,  and  of  the  press,  and  glory  in  tlieiv  "  House 
of  Commons"  as  the  palladium  of  their  rights.  These 
two  nations  have  a  common  policy  of  which  they  are 
aware,  and  it  will  not  be  easy  to  divert  them  from  it. 
Russia,  too,  is  bent  on  improvement,  and  has  a  co-ordi- 
nate aim.  To  these  three  powers  we  are  to  look  for  the 
chief  governmental  forces  that  shall  shape  the  future  of 
Em*ope.  Providence  will  use  them  for  good,  we  may' 
hope.  They  will  at  least  do  for  the  scaffolding  of  the 
building,  and  more.  God  will  honor  them  as  the  means 
of  light  and  blessing  to  Europe,  and  of  the  introduction 
and  progress  of  that  eventual  Christian  civilization  to 
the  masses  to  which  we  look  forward  and  for  which  we 
pray. 


pilFiESIffI 


^i 


WB® 


228  EUROPE   AS   CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA. 


LECTURE  IX. 

EUROPE  AS  CONTRASTED  WITH  AMERICA. 

The  geological  stnicture  of  America  may  indicate 
that  it  is  an  older  continent  than  Europe ;  not  so,  the 
habitation  of  man  upon  it.  Its  rivers  may  be  longer 
and  broader,  and  stretch  on  through  more  latitudes  and 
longitudes,  but  our  mountains  are  less  abrupt  and  bold 
in  outline, — less  imposing  and  sublime.  The  Allegha- 
nies  are  but  the  backbone  of  the  Continent,  with  here  and 
there  a  rounded  protuberance  on  them,  of  extra  hight 
and  significance.  Such  are  the  Green  Mountains  and 
those  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine  stretching  toward 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  That  congeries  of  swells 
and  elevations,  known  as  the  Adirondacs,  and  other 
ranges  of  Northern  New  York,  so  fitly  styled  the  Swe- 
den of  America,  as  they  appear  in  so  much  variety  and 
beauty  of  outline  to  one  at  Bmiington,  or  at  other  points 
along  the  Western  slope  of  Vermont,  are  modest  and 
unpretentious  compared  with  European  mountains.  If 
we  have  quite  away  in  South  America  both  an  Amazon 
and  a  Chimborazo,  we  have  not  the  Alps  here  at  the 
North,  ^vith  its  continent  of  mountain  peaks,  piling 
the  heavens,  shuddering  in  eternal  snow.  The  icebergs 
that  stare  on  us  occasionally,  gi-im  and  threatening  as 
we  cross  the  Atlantic,  come  down  from  Greenland  and 
Spitzbergen,  and  the  glacier  of  a  thousand  yeai's,  is  the 


EUROPE   AS    CONTRASTED   WITH    AMERICA.  229 

fi-uit  of  European  altitudes  and  declivities.  Even  sunny 
Italy  and  the  valley  of  the  Po,  the  lowest  on  that  Con- 
tinent, look  out  in  the  not  far  distance  on  perennial  frost 
and  ice.  The  Alps,  with  the  spurs  that  shoot  out  from 
them,  are  the  characteristic  feature  in  the  profile  of  Eu- 
rope, but  it  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  it  had  not  a 
large  extent  of  level  and  champaign  country.  Many 
parts  of  France  are  so,  as  are  Belgium  and  Holland,  and 
the  regions  bordering  on  the  Baltic  Sea.  All  the  South 
of  England  would  thus  be  considered,  excepting  the 
mountains  of  Wales  on  its  western  border. 

But  we  tarry  not  on  the  physical  outlines  of  the  old 
world,  as  contrasted  with  the  new.  The  difference  lies 
chiefly  in  its  human  and  moral  features  and  aspects,  and 
first  in  the  measure  of  material  and  social  progress  there 
manifested.  That  appears  like  a  mature  and  fully  de- 
veloped country.  The  roads  and  fences,  and  fields  and 
farms ;  the  cities  and  towns,  and  villas  and  gardens,  and 
grounds ;  its  ornamental  walks  and  shade  trees,  all  are 
finished  up  and  fully  grown  and  in  nearer  perfection 
than  with  us.  We  have  begun  a  thousand  things,  and 
much  it  may  be  that  they  have  not,  or  have  given  up 
and  forgotten.  Ours  is  the  era  of  experiment,  of  inven- 
tion, and  trial.  We  have  new  schemes  on  almost  all 
subjects.  In  agriculture  and  ornamental  gardens,  in 
architecture  and  the  application  of  the  mechanic  arts, 
in  business  and  in  manners,  in  domestic  and  social  life, 
we  are  a  nation  of  original  and  independent  thinkers 
and  actors.  Each  has  a  way  of  his  own  and  blocks  it 
out  to  suit  himself. 

Our  government  is  yet  a  novelty.     Our  institutions 


230  EUROPE   AS    CONTRASTED    WITH   AMERICA. 

and  legislation  and  country  itself  are  new.  A  century 
has  not  tested  them.  We  are  a  nation  of  beginners. 
And  though  we  have  the  light  of  history,  and  are  here 
setting  up  for  ourselves,  under  all  the  advantages  furn- 
ished in  the  past,  yet  it  is  a  new  application  of  theories, 
a  new  adjustment  of  principles,  and  a  new  economy  of 
habits  and  practice,  that,  to  say  the  most,  has  not  come 
to  full  maturity. 

Our  intercourse  is  more  miscellaneous  and  unsettled. 
There  is  an  air  of  independence  and  freedom  from  rule 
in  our  manners.  We  think  as  we  please  and  speak  as 
we  think.  There  are  no  privileged  orders  among  us, — 
no  titled  distinctions.  The  forces  of  society  have  en- 
tered into  new  composition,  and  are  combined,  it  is 
hoped,  for  a  future  more  elevated  and  ennobUng,  more 
in  accordance  with  the  rights  of  humanity  and  the 
cause  of  God ;  but  they  have  not  yet  taken  on  them  the 
polish  and  mature  resultant  appearance  and  finish  of 
older  communities.  This  is  quite  obsei*vable  by  an 
American  traveling  in  Europe.  You  may  not  be  able 
to  describe  it,  but  it  is  everywhere  impressed  on  you  in 
the  features  of  society, — of  men  and  things  there.  One 
may  pass  the  length  of  the  continent  without  intrusion 
or  trespass  upon  his  feelings  or  rights.  We  sometimes 
adjudge  John  Bull  to  be  a  biu*ly  fellow,  but  I  have  not 
seen  it  in  England,  or  in  the  Cunard  line  of  steamers, 
but  on  the  other  hand,  a  finished  country,  and  respect 
for  the  rights  of  others,  and  a  careful  regard  for  their 
feelings,  and  the  claims  of  hospitality  and  friendship, 
worthy  of  all  commendation.  The  politeness  of  the  old 
world  is  less  obtrusive  and  officious,  but  more  finished 


EUROPE   AS   CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA.  231 

and  complete.  It  seems  to  know  just  where  to  stop  and 
leave  you  to  your  manhood,  and  liberty,  and  rights, 
without  giving  or  expecting  offense.  Personal  liberty 
is  said  to  be  the  freest  and  most  undoubted  in  France, 
of  any  nation.  Said  one  in  the  city  of  Lyons,  "  Every- 
body is  safe  here ;  for  every  one  knows  we  have  a  police 
that  will  lay  its  strong  hand  on  the  beginning  of  dis- 
order." And  hence  the  stability  and  fixedness  of  the 
old  country.  It  seems  to  have  reached  conclusions 
more  than  we  have.  There  is  an  air  of  reliability  im- 
pressed on  the  aspect  of  everything  there.  Except  in 
large  mercantile  transactions  the  currency  of  Europe  is 
in  the  precious  metals.  The  traveler  may  take  his  letter 
of  credit  from  London  or  Paris,  but  he  must  pay  his 
bills  in  gold  and  silver.  Napoleons  and  Sovreiegns  and 
the  rough  German  thaler  must  meet  his  necessities  on 
the  road ;  and  after  a  season  of  travel  there,  it  seems 
quite  worthless  and  humiliating  to  deal  again  in  dirty 
and  tattered  dollar  bills  here. 

The  Railroads  of  Europe  are  not  so  numerous  as  in 
this  country,  but  in  construction  and  aiTangement  they 
surpass  us,  and  in  the  safety  and  convenience  of  the 
passenger  on  them.  If  they  are  more  expensive,  they 
are  more  perfect,  and  more  guarded  against  danger  and 
harm  on  eveiy  hand.  The  idea  of  permanency  is  every- 
where in  the  ascendant.  Walls,  dwellings,  castles,  roads 
and  fences,  have  the  air  of  durability.  On  the  elevation 
subtending  the  easterly  side  of  Havre,  where  one  takes 
a  land  and  water  view  of  town  and  country,  and  river 
and  ocean,  and  harbors  and  ships,  second  only  to  that 
of  Naples,  in  all  Europe ;  the  long  line  of  private  pal- 


232  EUROPE   AS    c6NTEASTED   with   AMERICA. 

aces  and  villas  is  walled  in  with  solid  and  rough  stone 
and  mortar,  with  the  privilege  of  beholding  the  glories 
of  shrubbery  and  trees  and  flowers,  and  all  the  exuber- 
ance of  ornamental  gardening,  from  the  looj)  holes,  only, 
at  the  needed  gates  of  necessity,  if  not  grudgingly  furn- 
ished. On  the  outside  it  is  simple  stone-work  inclosure, 
too  high  for  sight  or  intrusion ;  within  it  is  gorgeous 
with  all  manner  of  fruits  and  flowers,  and  every  efibrt 
of  taste  and  art.  This  is  characteristic  of  private  resi- 
dences and  gi-ounds  everywhere  on  the  Continent,  and 
largely  so  in  England.  You  ring  the  bell  from  the  un- 
social wall  in  the  street;  the  porter  emerges  from  his 
lodge  there.  The  Colleges  of  Oxford  present  a  dull 
outline  on  the  street  outside,  and  you  enter  by  a  gate 
in  the  wall,  to  open  quadrangles,  and  multiplied  lawns, 
and  gardens,  and  walls,  and  structures  within.  Near 
that  city  is  now  to  be  seen,  and  in  good  repair,  a  chm-ch 
that  was  built  before  the  Norman  conquest.  It  has 
stood  for  near  a  thousand  years,  and  though  antique  in 
model,  unaccommodating  in  its  proportion,  and  uncouth 
in  its  architecture,  holds  yet  its  Sabbath  congregation, 
and  may  do  it  for  centuries  to  come. 

One  is  deeply  impressed  with  this  feature  of  fixedness 
and  durability  in  visiting  Westminister  Ahhey.  It  groups 
the  ages  together.  The  past  and  the  present  abide  there. 
It  is  the  receptacle  and  the  memento  of  England's  great 
ones,  throughout  her  history.  There,  they  live  in  costly 
monumental  magnificence ;  in  marble  slab,  and  entabla- 
ture, and  humble  niche ;  in  stately  pride  and  royal  deco- 
ration, carved  in  enduring  stone ;  kings  and  their  queens ; 
lords,  statesmen,  and  poets,  and  scholars,  and  good  men 


EUROPE   AS   CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA.  233 

and  bad.  There  are  Nelson,  and  the  Iron  Duke,  and 
Wilberforce,  and  Watts,  and  from  them,  and  later  back, 
clear  to  the  Heptarchy.  There  they  are  m  silent  and 
enduring  permanency.  The  ages  move  by,  but  they 
heed  it  not.  Generations  come  and  go,  but  this  only 
marks  their  epoch,  and  sets  up  new  mementos  along  the 
corridors  of  the  goodly  old  Abbey.  Verily,  thought  I, 
as  traversing  its  halls  and  transepts,  and  passages  and 
chapels,  rich  with  the  records  of  time  gone  by,  and  as 
I  came  myself,  fresh  from  the  decorations  of  the  "Arch 
of  Triumph"  on  the  bights  of  Paris,  inscribed  all  over 
with  the  victories  of  one  Napoleon;  if  France  is  emu- 
lous of  the  glory  of  the  present  and  the  future,  England 
has  garnered  up  with  care  the  greatness  of  the  past. 

But  I  approach  an  allied  feature  of  European  socie- 
ty,— of  her  great  and  good  men, — her  scholarship  and 
science, — her  research  in  literature  and  the  arts.  Poli- 
tics is  not  so  universal  a  study  in  Europe  as  in  this  coun- 
try. The  current  present,  has  not  so  strong  a  hold  on 
the  public  mind  there  as  here.  The  proportion  of  those 
that  take  the  daily  or  even  the  weekly  newspaper,  is  not 
a  tenth  as  large  as  with  us.  Grades  and  classes  of  the 
people  are  more  distinct  and  isolated,  and  more  appro- 
priately within  their  own  sphere,  in  their  habits  and 
range  of  thought.  General  education  is  less  extended. 
Many  in  their  condition  are  sunk  below  an  interest  in 
^  public  affairs ;  and  politics  and  things  of  State  are  more 
the  trade  of  the  few  than  the  study  of  the  many.  This 
is  less  true  in  England  than  on  the  continent.  But  even 
there  a  property  qualification  exists,  and  scarcely  the 
half  of  the  men  of  adult  age  are  voters.     France  boasts 


234  EUROPE   AS    CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA. 

of  universal  suffrage,  but  this  matter  there  is  disposed  of 
in  a  veiy  summary  way,  as  the  past  has  verified.  The 
voting  in  Italy  was  on  a  large  scale,  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  ballot-box  is  most  likely  as  well  understood  there, 
and  as  highly  appreciated,  as  in  any  continental  country. 
But  the  great  minds  of  Europe,  her  sages  and  wise 
men,  are  more  engi-ossed  in  the  enduring  problems  of 
science  and  truth.  They  dwell  more  in  the  past,  and  in 
the  philosophy  of  fact  and  history.  They  have  a  riper 
scholarship  than  we  can  boast,  and  more  facilities  for 
attaining  it.  They  have  a  large  literature,  and  more 
minute  habits  of  investigation.  They  have  more  leis- 
ure for  it,  and  more  readers,  and  work  themselves  up  to 
a  higher  criticism  on  every  subject  of  thought.  Even 
their  greatest  statesmen  of  this  day,  are  authors,  too,  of 
scientific  and  literary  works,  that  do  honor  to  the  age. 
This  is  especially  true  of  France  and  England.  Pre- 
miers and  ministers  of  State  are  also  chancellors  of  uni- 
versities, and  competitors  for  classic  fame,  as  for  polit- 
ical ascendency  and  greatness.  One  of  the  most  astute 
and  philosophic  of  them  has  said,  "  The  Germans  give 
us  the  materials  of  knowledge,  the  French  systematize 
them,  and  the  English  put  them  to  use."*  This  testi- 
mony is  doubtless  true,  and  it  points  to  the  leading 
som-ces  of  intelligence  and  thought  in  Europe  the  pres- 
ent day,  and  gives  their  characteristics.  The  German 
mind  is  more  original,  and  reaches  after  the  sources  of  ^ 
investigation  and  truth,  and  propounds  its  results  re- 
gardless of  consequences;  the  French  more  construc- 
tive and  elaborate  in  the  science  and  philosophy  of  facts, 
*  M.  Guizot,  in  his  history  of  civilization  In  France. 


isUROPE   AS   CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA.  235 

and  the  principles  of  inquiry  and  thought;  w'hile  in 
England,  the  estimate  of  value  is  on  everything.  The 
British  mind  is  eminently  practical  and  utilitarian.  Even 
the  Scotch  in  the  Masters  of  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow 
have  given  us  no  system  of  philosophy.  They  have 
written  well  on  particular  topics,  but  their  works  are 
rather  fragraentaiy  than  complete  on  any  one  science. 

But  each  nation  supplements  the  others  in  its  efforts 
and  influence  on  the  domain  of  the  true  and  the  possi- 
ble, and  we,  in  America,  have  the  benefit  of  all  and  may 
hope,  with  our  younger  literature,  and  ready  access,  and 
aspiring  ambition,  to  emerge  into  a  future  "pari  j^assu,'* 
with  our  trans- Atlantic  cousins  of  either  stock. 

In  some  things  we  have  the  advantage,  and  here  we 
may  remember  that  Europe,  and  especially  the  conti- 
nent, is  weighed  down  with  two  burdens, — despotism  in 
Church  and  in  State.  We  have  solved  some  problems 
that  are  yet  unsolved  there,  and  are,  we  trust,  in  our 
present  fiery  ordeal,  finishing  up  a  successful  conflict 
with  the  last  and  greatest  of  our  political  and  social 
evils.  But  free  thought  in  Europe  is  yet  only  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  end.  The  might  of  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  rule  is  against  it,  while  the  masses  of  the  people  in 
their  culture  and  preparation  are  hardly  equal  to  its  re- 
sponsibilities. The  best  minds  there,  are  working  out 
its  first  lessons,  and  sighing  after  their  greater  realiza- 
tion. Italy  has  failed  again  and  again,  though  now,  we 
trust,  on  the  tide  of  successful  experiment.  Hungary 
has  failed  as  yet,  and  Poland,  too,  with  yet  poorer  pros- 
pects for  the  future.  And  even  France,  after  spending 
millions  of  treasure  and  oceans  of  blood,  is  now  trying 


236  EUROPE   AS    CONTRASTED    WITH    AMERICA. 

the  hope  of  freedom,  by  the  method  of  tyrannic  sway. 
The  States  of  Germany  were  electrified  a  few  years 
since  by  the  fiery  eloquence  of  Rouge,  but  its  visible  ef- 
fects have  passed  off,  and  William  of  Prussia,  at  the  re- 
cent coronation  at  Rounisburg,  a  year  or  two  since,  has 
inaugurated  with  unusual  pomp  and  significance,  if  not 
puerility,  the  doctrine  of  the  "divine  right  of  kings." 

There  is  a  logic  in  events,  and  progress  is  made  un- 
doubtedly in  the  direction  of  freedom  and  human  rights 
in  Em'ope ;  but  it  is  slow  and  subject  to  many  mischances 
and  aberrations.  Austria  is  yet  a  despotism,  and  its  Em- 
peror a  disciple  of  the  Jesuits,  and  will  recede  from  his 
patriotism  only  when  he  must,  and  then  as  little  as  he  can. 
The  Northern  nations  inspire  more  hope,  for  in  that 
quarter  rulers  are  in  advance  of  their  people,  and  lead 
the  van  of  civilization. 

The  grand  impediment  to  progress  in  Europe,  and 
the  great  contrast  between  it  and  this  country  at  this 
point,  lies  in  the  theory  of  government,  both  civil  and 
ecclesiastical.  Its  method  and  its  end  are  abnormal 
there.  In  both  respects  it  is  vested  in  the  divine  right 
of  rulers  in  themselves  to  rule  over  the  people.  The 
masses  are  regarded  only  as  subjects  of  law  and  under 
authority  both  in  Chm-ch  and  State.  Popes,  bishops, 
and  clergy, — emperors  and  kings,  and  potentates  of 
every  grade,  claim  direct  designation  from  God  to  dis- 
pense government  to  the  people,  without  their  consent, 
and  without  an  acknowledged  accountability  to  them. 
This  was  the  old  dootrine,  and  is  now,  to  a  large  extent, 
in  all  Europe.  It  is  thought  to  be  the  prescription  of 
religion  and  the  Bible,  and  gives  importance  to  the 


EUROPE   AS   CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA.  237 

question  of  legitimacy  and  hereditary  succession  in 
Church  and  State.  It  rests  like  a  night-mare  on  the 
conscience  of  the  nations,  and  constitutes  the  terror  of 
the  oppressor's  rod.  It  is  the  magic  wand  of  absolutism 
on  the  continent,  and  freedom  cowers  beneath  it.  The 
American  doctrine  of  the  rights  of  man  as  man,  and 
of  the  origin  of  human  government  in  the  equal  rights 
of  men,  and  as  emanating  from  their  inherent  personal- 
ity and  duty  of  self-government,  is  not  fully  born  and 
extant  there.  The  Puritans  learned  it  through  long 
and  sore  trials.  They  were  schooled  in  it,  "  in  a  great 
fight  and  furnace  of  afflictions."  It  was  the  fruit  of 
ceasing  from  man  and  appealing  to  God.  It  was  a 
necessity  of  the  Mayflower,  of  Plymouth  Rock,  and 
of  Pilgrim  New  England.  It  was  so  in  respect  to  both 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  government,  and  of  the  one,  no 
less  than  the  other.  It  was  self-government,  and  amen- 
ability to  God,  expanding  into  social  and  mutual  con- 
trol for  highest  good,  under  allegiance  to  Him.  It  ad- 
mitted two  functions  in  man — that  of  constituting  gov- 
ernment, and  of  submitting  to  it ;  that  of  making  the 
laws  and  obeying  them,  being  in  both  under  law  to 
God.  Every  man  is  thus  both  ruler  and  subject.  Gov- 
ernment emanates  from  the  people,  and  has  for  its  end 
the  highest  freedom  and  general  good  of  all.  This  is 
the  American  doctrine,  and  it  was  the  child  of  Divine 
Providence.  This  country  was  held  in  reserve  for  it 
and  its  development.  Those  sea- worn  veterans,  and 
severe  students  of  the  Bible,  hunted  from  all  Europe,  to 
a  virgin  continent  here,  could  do  nothing  less  than  con- 
stitute it.     In  the  language  of  one  of  New  England's 


238  EUROPE    AS   CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA. 

most  favored  sons,  and  which  have  gained  the  familiar- 
ity and  significance  of  household  songs,,  they  were 
placed  where  they  must  have  "  a  Church  without  a  bish- 
op, and  a  State  without  a  king." 

It  was  thus  that  they  interpreted  the  idea  of  divine 
right,  and  held  a  government  thus  constituted  to  be. 
"the  ordinance  of  God"  and  "  a  teiTor  to  evil  doers." 

And  why  is  not  this  the  more  sensible  view,  with  the 
checks  and  balances  of  its  representative  system,  and 
why  not  best  adapted  in  its  administration  and  observ- 
ances to  secure  a  conscientious  regard  to  the  inspired 
announcement  and  requisition,  "  So  then  every  one  of  us 
shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God  f 

But  this  theoiy  of  government  is  of  slow  growth  in 
European  countries.  England  uses  it  with  great  and 
increasing  effect  in  the  loiver  House  of  Parliament.  It 
has  been  wi*ung  from  her  sovereigns  and  brought  out  in 
her  judgments  at  common  law,  from  the  days  of  Magna 
Charta  and  Runnymede.  France  has  had  some  lessons 
in  it,  and  will  never  forget  them.  Even  now  our  eye 
falls  upon  the  opening  speech  of  the  Emperor,  pointing 
significantly  to  the  Roman  question  and  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Papacy,  and  to  the  addi'ess  of  the  Prince  Napo- 
leon in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  where  he  comments 
more  fiilly  on  the  subject,  and  boldly  asserts  that  the 
Empire  in  France  has  its  argument  and  expression,  in 
the  principles  of  liberty  ascertained  in  the  will  of  the 
French  people.  His  words  are,  "  The  Empire  is  found- 
ed on  the  principles  of  the  Revolution  coiTectly  under- 
stood." He  quoted  from  a  work  of  Victor  Cousin, 
these  words :  "  France  is  not  fickle  or  difficult  to  govern. 


EUROPE   AS   CONTRASTED    WITH   AMERICA.  239 

and  desires  only  the  regular  development  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Revolution  ;"  and  added :  "  Those  are  my 
opinions."  "  For  my  part,  I  say  boldly,  that  I  have  no 
fear  for  a  government  which  is  rooted  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people ;  and  while  it  remains  true  to  the  principle 
of  nationalities  abroad,  and  to  the  liberal  and  popular 
sentiment  at  home,  it  may  defy  all — even  the  agitation 
of  the  clergy."  The  Prince  then  closed  with  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  "  Thier's  History  of  the  French 
Revolution,"  as  "  exactly  expressing  his  own  opinions :" 
*'  I  belong  to  the  party  of  revolution  as  well  in  France 
as  in  Europe.  I  desire  that  the  government  of  France 
may  remain  in  the  hands  of  modern  men.  I  will  do  all 
I  can  for  that.  But,  though  the  government  should 
pass  into  the  hands  of  men  less  moderate  than  myself, 
— ardent  men  and  radicals, — I  would  not  abandon  my 
course  on  that  account ;  I  should  still  be  of  the  party 
of  the  Revolution.'" 

Here  is  the  cropping  out  of  the  American  theory  of 
government,  both  on  the  part  of  the  Historian  and  the 
Prince  that  cites  him.  It  is  on  the  subject  of  the 
Romish  clergy,  and  their  interference  in  the  affairs 
of  the  government ;  and  it  is  quite  significant  from  one 
so  near  the  throne,  and  by  maniage  prospective  heir 
of  Italy,  and  who,  by  the  way,  had  just  returned  from 
this  country.  It  strikes  a  chord  which  is  beginning  to 
vibrate  with  tension  and  eftect  in  that  country.  Clothilde 
is  a  proud  and  aspiring  princess,  and  her  father  wields 
a  constitutional  sceptre.  Austria,  in  the  recent  struggles, 
has  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  popular  rights,  and 
cleaves  to  the  despotism  of  Rome.     But  both  are  effete 


240  EUROPE   AS    CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA. 

and  worn  out  corporations.  The  free  aspirations  of  Eu- 
rope are  against  them,  and  though  much  in  doubt  and 
lacking  consent  and  harmony,  is  sighing  for  a  recon- 
struction, more  in  accordance  with  human  rights  and 
popular  freedom,  and  of  which  the  results  are  not  yet. 
(We  speak  more  fully  in  a  subsequent  lecture.) 

Truth  is  eternal, — not  so  the  phases  of  human  society 
in  Europe,  or  elsewhere.  They  cannot  be  while  of  an 
abnormal  type,  and  settled  down  on  fictitious  bases. 
Man  has  an  inherent  personality.  The  world  sighs  for 
freedom  and  intelligent  self-control.  Since  writing  the 
above,  new  signs  have  appeared  in  the  horizon  of  Eu- 
rope. Poland  has  waked  up,  and  some  question  of  suc- 
cession in  Prussian  Denmark,  is  occasioning  general 
concern,  if  not  leading  to  a  general  war  on  the  conti- 
nent. Hungary  has  shown  increasing  restlessness,  and 
Napoleon  has  asked  the  aid  of  a  common  diplomacy  in 
reconstructing  the  map  of  Europe,  and  assigning  the 
terms  of  a  general  and  permanent  peace.  The  older 
dynasties  are  reluctant,  and  recusant  respecting  the 
measure,  and  yet  cannot  settle  the  question  of  descent 
in  the  little  Duchies  of  Denmark,  without  substantially 
acceding  to  it,  by  a  conference  in  London,  of  the  great 
powers.  This  may  inaugurate  his  prinqiple,  and  open 
the  way  to  its  result.  In  the  meantime  the  C'zar  has 
liberated  the  serfs  of  Poland  and  thereby  quenched, 
most  likely,  the  rebellion  there.  And  Garibaldi  is  re- 
ceived with  much  favor  in  England,  and  will  doubtless 
briing  out  his  one  absorbing  idea,  and  object  there  of 
giving  Italy  to  the  Italians.  The  custody  of  Rome  is 
becominsf  more  and  more  an  affliction  and  a  grievance 


EUROPE   AS   CONTRASTED   WITH   AMERICA.  241 

to  the  French  people,  if  not  to  their  Emperor  and  the 
French  Chamber,  while  Thiers,  the  historian,  is  criticis- 
ing with  increasing  freedom  the  measures  of  his  gov- 
ernment. All  is  tending  toward  the  vindication  of  the 
doctrine  of  popular  rights.  The  next  centre  of  inter- 
est in  Europe  will  be  nearer  Venice  and  the  Adriatic 
than  the  German  Ocean,  and  when  Hungary  strikes 
again  for  freedom,  we  may  expect  the  reconstruction  of 
the  maps  of  Europe  on  more  resultant  issues,  and  under 
a  more  recent  diplomacy  than  that  of  the  peace  of 
Vienna  in  1815. 


10 


242  FUTURE    OP   EMPIRE   AMONG   NATIONS. 


LECTURE  X. 

PROGNOSIS  OF  THE  FUTURE  OF  EMPIRE  AMONG  NATIONS. 

An  estimate  of  the  comparative  growth  and  decad- 
ence of  the  sovereignties  of  the  earth,  so  far  as  om* 
weak  vision  can  forecast  the  future,  will  be  made  up 
chiefly  in  the  light  of  the  historic  developments  of  the 
different  nationalities  hitherto,  that  are  to  figure  in  it, 
— their  status  now, — the  general  designs  of  Providence, 
and  the  recorded  purposes  of  God. 

Distinct  nations  and  races  of  men  have  peculiaiities. 
This  has  been  so  from  the  earliest  times.  The  sons  of 
Noah  were  unlike  each  other,  and  had  a  unique  history 
impressed  on  each  by  a  positive  Providence — "  Cursed 
be  Canaan,  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be."  "  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem,  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  ser- 
vant." "  God  will  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  Shem."  This  prophecy  has  met  the  eye 
of  the  student  of  histoiy  during  the  ages  since.  The 
sons  of  Japheth  have  been  a  dominant  and  indomitable 
race,  inhabiting  the  more  hardy  and  stringent  latitudes 
toward  the  poles,  while  those  of  Shem  have  dwelt  nearer 
the  warmer  tropics,  and  those  of  Ham  chiefly  under  the 
enervating  equator  itself  Climate,  habits  of  life,  and 
forms  of  government,  and  varied  history  down  through 
the  progress  of  the  centuries,  have  separated  them  so 
widely  in  features  and  characteristics,  that  some  mere 


FUTURE    OF   EMPIRE   AMONG  NATIONS  243 

naturalists,  as  Agassiz  and  others,  have  thought  them 
originally  distinct.  The  lineaments  of  the  past  are  in 
the  present,  and  in  calculating  the  forces  and  track  of 
the  future,  we  must  take  into  consideration  not  the 
primeval  prophecy  merely,  but  the  manifested  idiosyn- 
crasies of  the  peoples  and  nations  inhabiting  the  earth. 

Theu'  present  status,  too,  vrill  be  taken  into  the  account. 
"What  are  their  relative  position  and  advantages  ?  How 
are  they  hemmed  in  by  seas  and  mountains,  and  how 
open  to  the  expansions  of  commerce  ?  How  are  they 
affected  by  laws  and  governments  and  religions,  and 
how  elevated  or  depressed  by  the  more  or  less  advanced 
stage  of  a  general  or  Christian  civilization  ! 

The  general  and  leading  design  of  Divine  Providence 
must  not  be  overlooked.  "  Righteousness  exalteth  a 
nation,  and  sin  is  a  reproach  unto  any  people."  "  Those 
that  honor  me,"  saith  God,  "I  will  honor,  and  those 
that  despise  me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed."  God's 
methods  are  like  himself  "  His  way  is  perfect."  The 
great  aim  and  scope  of  his  dealings  are  to  educate  the 
race  to  intelligence,  piety,  and  virtue.  There  is  a  mor- 
ality in  the  veiw  of  Providence — an  end  worthy  of  God 
in  his  dispensations  to  men  and  nations.  To  this  end, 
"  He  setteth  up  one,  and  putteth  down  another."  And 
then,  too,  he  has  recorded  ultimate  designs,  a  glorious 
resultant  future  for  man,  in  the  light  of  which  we  may 
estimate  what  shall  be,  and  approximate  the  closing 
chapters  of  a  history  ever  deepening  in  interest  as  it 
advances,  and  sure  to  issue  in  excelling  glory  to  God, 
and  success  to  all  righteousness,  and  guodness,  and 
truth. 


242  FUTURE    OF   EJUPIRE   AMONG   NATIONS, 


LECTURE  X. 

PROGNOSIS  OF  THE  FUTURE  OF  EMPIRE  AMONG  NATIONS. 

An  estimate  of  the  comparative  growth  and  decad- 
ence of  the  sovereignties  of  the  earth,  so  far  as  our 
weak  vision  can  forecast  the  future,  will  be  made  up 
chiefly  in  the  light  of  the  historic  developments  of  the 
different  nationalities  hitherto,  that  are  to  figure  in  it, 
— their  status  now, — the  general  designs  of  Providence, 
and  the  recorded  purposes  of  God. 

Distinct  nations  and  races  of  men  have  peculiarities. 
This  has  been  so  from  the  earliest  times.  The  sons  of 
Noah  were  unlike  each  other,  and  had  a  unique  history 
impressed  on  each  by  a  positive  Providence — "  Cursed 
be  Canaan,  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be."  "  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God  of  Shera,  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  ser- 
vant." "  God  will  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  Shem."  This  prophecy  has  met  the  eye 
of  the  student  of  histoiy  dming  the  ages  since.  The 
sons  of  Japheth  have  been  a  dominant  and  indomitable 
race,  inhabiting  the  more  hardy  and  stringent  latitudes 
toward  the  poles,  while  those  of  Shem  have  dwelt  nearer 
the  warmer  tropics,  and  those  of  Ham  chiefly  under  the 
enervating  equator  itself  Climate,  habits  of  life,  and 
forms  of  government,  and  varied  history  down  through 
the  progress  of  the  centuries,  have  separated  them  so 
widely  in  features  and  characteristics,  that  some  mere 


FUTURE    OF   EMPIRE   AMONG  NATIONS  243 

naturalists,  as  Agassiz  and  others,  have  thought  them 
originally  distinct.  The  lineaments  of  the  past  are  in 
the  present,  and  in  calculating  the  forces  and  track  of 
the  future,  we  must  take  into  consideration  not  the 
primeval  prophecy  merely,  but  the  manifested  idiosyn- 
crasies of  the  p>eoples  and  nations  inhabiting  the  earth. 

Their  present  status,  too,  will  be  taken  into  the  account. 
What  are  their  relative  position  and  advantages  ?  How 
are  they  hemmed  in  by  seas  and  mountains,  and  how 
open  to  the  expansions  of  commerce  ?  How  are  they 
affected  by  laws  and  governments  and  religions,  and 
how  elevated  or  depressed  by  the  more  or  less  advanced 
stage  of  a  general  or  Christian  civilization "? 

The  general  and  leading  design  of  Divine  Providence 
must  not  be  overlooked.  "  Kighteousness  exalteth  a 
nation,  and  sin  is  a  reproach  unto  any  people."  "  Those 
that  honor  me,"  saith  God,  "I  will  honor,  and  those 
that  despise  me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed."  God's 
methods  are  like  himself.  "  His  way  is  perfect."  The 
great  aim  and  scope  of  his  dealings  are  to  educate  the 
race  to  intelligence,  piety,  and  virtue.  There  is  a  mor- 
ality in  the  veiw  of  Providence — an  end  worthy  of  God 
in  his  dispensations  to  men  and  nations.  To  this  end, 
"  He  setteth  up  one,  and  putteth  down  another."  And 
then,  too,  he  has  recorded  ultimate  designs,  a  glorious 
resultant  future  for  man,  in  the  light  of  which  we  may 
estimate  what  shall  be,  and  approximate  the  closing 
chapters  of  a  history  ever  deepening  in  interest  as  it 
advances,  ^nd  sure  to  issue  in  excelling  glory  to  God, 
and  success  to  all  righteousness,  and  goodness,  and 
truth. 


246  FUTURE    OF   E5IPIKE    AMONG   NATIONS. 

have  recently  gained  the  Pacific  coast,  and  England  the 
whole  of  Australia,  and  is  now  exploring  with  much 
assiduity  the  interior,  of  as  yet,  unknown  Africa,  and 
will  plant  her  trading  posts  and  colonies  there. 

Three  things  favor  the  future  of  the  Saxon  race — its 
intelligence,  its  commerce  and  industrial  pursuits  gener- 
ally, and  its  religion.  These  would  guarantee  the  future 
prosperity  of  any  people,  and  are  especially  elements 
of  strength  and  durability  in  such  a  people.  There  are 
alternately  cause  and  effect,  and  by  their  mutual  action 
and  reaction,  will  facilitate,  if  not  secure,  their  growing 
greatness  and  ascendancy  on  the  earth.  Intelligence  is 
a  power  in  itself  It  helps  to  bring  man  to  his  individ- 
uality, and  to  make  the  most  of  himself  He  learns  to 
think  and  act  for  himself,  and  to  be  a  power  in  his  own 
right.  He  reads  and  investigates,  he  plans  and  invents, 
and  adds  to  the  common  stock  of  knowledge  and  to 
the  compass  of  his  own  personal  being.  The  individual 
and  aggregate  will  of  a  people  is  thus  increased,  and  its 
power  for  courage  and  conduct,  and  for  all  the  arts 
of  peace  and  of  prowess  in  war.  These  on  the  whole 
are  the  most  enlightened  nations.  They  may  not  boast 
the  greatest  Bcholars,  but  have  the  most  general  intelli- 
gence. The  masses  have  comparative  elevation,  and 
are  being  educated  under  governments,  while  most  lean 
in  the  direction  of  civil  freedom  and  the  rights  of  man. 
In  this  is  there  an  element  of  strength,  of  perpetuity 
and  progress. 

This  race,  too,  links  itself  by  its  commerce  with  all 
other  nations  and  peoples  on  the  globe.  A  maritime 
people  is  essentially  an  aggressive  and  a  progressive  one. 


FUTURE   OP   EMPIRE   AMONG   NATIONS.  247 

What  was  Venice,  or,  rather,  what  was  she  not,  when 
she  had  the  carrying  trade  of  the  Mediterranean ;  or 
Portugal,  after  she  discovered  the  way  of  the  East ;  or 
the  Hanse  towns,  when  the  commerce  of  Em-ope  was  in 
their  hands,  and  until  a  stronger  than  they  demanded 
it  1  The  ascendancy  of  England  is  by  her  commerce 
coupled  with  her  manufactures.  Our  American  ofishoot 
will  have  a  share  in  this.  This,  she  and  all  Europe 
already  understands.  The  London  Times  of  to-day,  in 
advising  Canada  to  take  care  of  itself  and  assuring  her 
that  the  mother  countiy  can  not  help  her,  says,  "  The 
United  States  is  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  military  and 
naval  powers  on  the  globe."  (Christian  Evangelical 
Journal.)  This  is  true  prophecy.  Our  present  struggle 
will  necessitate  and  secure  it.  And  our  commercial 
marine  will  more  than  keep  pace  with  the  arts  of  war. 
With  om-  boundless  country,  and  the  science  we  bring 
into  our  agriculture,  we  must  largely  supply  the  work- 
shops of  Europe,  and  be  the  granary  of  the  world. 
The  carrying  trade  to  China  and  the  Old  World  of  the 
East,  may  be  through  this  continent,  and  we  become 
the  highway  of  nations.  That  contemplated  ship  canal 
may  be  cut  through  the  Isthmus,  and  our  Pacific  Rail 
Road  may  be  so  completed  and  be  so  capacious,  as  to 
ensure  it.  This  would  bring  into  near  contiguity  and 
open  communication,  Japan  not  only,  and  the  mouth  of 
the  Amoor,  with  those  vast  regions  of  Russia  bordering 
on  it,  but  China  and  the  East.  So  that,  from  this  point 
of  view,  it  would  seem  that  a  great  and  onward  future 
is  before  the  American  element  in  the  Saxon  race. 
But  religion  is  the  greatest  force  in  society,  and  will 


248  FUTURE   OF   EMPIRE    AMONG   NATIONS. 

be  increasingly  so  "  in  the  ages  to  come."  If  the  whole 
of  human  thought  lies  in  these  three  categories — the 
finite,  the  Infinite,  and  the  relation  between  them,  our 
greatest  ideas,  om*  most  commanding  progress  and  ut- 
most harmony  with  that  gi*eat  future  before  the  race,  as 
we  hope,  is  in  our  relations  to  the  Infinite,  in  the  work- 
ing and  guarantees  of  religion^  and  its  influence  on  men 
and  nations.  And  in  this  respect  the  Saxon  race  are  in 
advance  of  any  other  people.  It  has  an  open  Bible,  a 
free  press,  and  the  largest  Christian  literature.  It  has  a 
faith  most  freed  from  the  mummeries  of  a  merely  formal 
and  legendary  service,  the  most  intelligent  in  itself  and 
best  adapted  to  enlighten,  regenerate  and  purify  the 
masses  of  society, — that  takes  the  school  house  and  the 
pulpit  in  its  range,  and  elevates  and  ennobles  the  soul. 
It  is  aggressive,  too.  The  protestant  faith  is  a  discipler 
of  the  nations.  It  has  missions  now  among  almost  all 
people,  and  its  advocates  in  the  foreign  field  are  attract- 
ing the  notice  of  kings  and  the  great  ones  of  the  earth, 
as  foremost  in  the  ranks  of  the  benefactors  of  mankind. 
Thus  this  people  is  progressively  falling  into  the  wake 
of  a  redeeming  Providence,  and  being  made  an  engine 
of  good  and  a  factor  in  working  out  the  problems  of  a 
future  as  indicated  in  the  recorded  assurances  of  the 
word  of  God.  Hence  the  future  of  the  Saxon  race. 
We  hope  it  may  be  in  the  vanguard  in  the  great  work 
of  discipling  the  nations,  and  that  it  is  thus  for  good 
reasons  that  the  early  prophecy  was  left  us :  "  God  shall 
enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of 
•  Shem." 

But  other  nations  must  share  our  regard  in  the  esti- 


FUTURE    OP   EMPIRE   AMONG   NATIONS.  249 

mate  we  make.  Those  of  Central  Europe,  in  the  light 
of  the  past  and  the  present,  must  have  a  somewhat  dis- 
tinguished future.  Intelligence  and  freedom  and  true 
religion  have  taken  root,  and  there  are  symptoms  of 
growth  and  progress  ;  but  Continental  Europe  is  imped- 
ed and  oppressed  by  two  giant  difficulties — oppression 
in  civil  government  and  in  religious  faith.  Absolutism 
in  Church  and  State  render  the  condition  of  these  na- 
tions an  abnormal  one.  Truth  and  light,  both  in  poli- 
tics and  religion,  will  conflict  with  their  present  state. 
There  is  much  in  them  that  must  be  done  away.  In 
respect  to  some,  rottenness  has  entered  into,  their  bones 
and  the  future  will  plead  for  reconstruction.  Romanism 
is  a  foe  to  progress.  The  Pope  is  advised  by  an  ecu- 
menical council  at  Rome  to  hold  on  unyieldingly  to  his 
former  status,  temporalities  and  all.  Religion,  as  con- 
served by  him,  must  come  into  conflict  with  the  civil 
power,  and  there  must  be  revolution  and  reconstruction 
on  the  continent.  Romanism  is  the  great  impediment 
of  progress  there,  as  slaveiy  is  here.  Both  must  disap- 
pear before  the  advancing  light  of  the  future.  Free 
thought  and  the  doctrines  of  a  more  intelligent  faith 
will  gain  ascendancy  in  Europe,  but  the  struggle  will  be 
prolonged  and  severe,  and  what  new  complications  will 
enter  into  it,  and  what  reconstructions  occur,  it  may  be 
difficult  to  foretell.  Popery  will  not  answer  for  the 
future,  and  refuses  amendment,  and  must  be  wiitten 
down  as  doomed.  With  it  must  go  the  civil  corpora- 
tions that  are  dependent  on  it.  Principles  are  stronger 
than  men — yea,  than  kings  and  popes.  Dynasties  that 
have  become  old  and  worthless,  must  crumble  before  the 


250       FUTURE  OP  EMPIRE  AMONG  NATIONS. 

car  of  progress.  Ideas  are  slow  in  the  public  miud,  but 
must  have  eventual  sway.  Reason  and  truth  will  get 
the  victory,  and  Europe  be  redeemed  from  both  her 
burdens.  In  this  work  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that  the 
nationalities  the  most  intelligent  and  free,  will  take  the 
lead,  and  we  look  to  France,  to  Italy  with  her  Alpine 
constitution,  to  Prussia  and  the  German  States  for  their 
contributions  of  influence,  and  yet  it  may  be  that  the 
old  empires  of  Central  Europe  will  play  but  a  secondary 
part  in  the  great  drama  of  the  world's  future,  and  be 
confined  chiefly  to  the  localites  and  the  continent  on 
Avhich  they  are  now  situated. 

But  another  power  is  coming  upon  the  stage.  The 
empire  of  Russia  is  being  developed  from  its  semi-bar- 
baric state  and  is  already  one  of  the  most  considerable 
powers  of  Christendom  and  of  the  world.  That  race, 
too,  is  descended  in  the  line  of  Japheth,  in  its  dominant 
elements  and  characteristics.  Russia  rules  over  other 
tribes  and  away  on  the  slopes  of  Asia,  among  Monguls 
and  Tartars,  it  may  be,  but  her  indigenous  people  at 
home  and  the  constituents  of  her  strength  are  of  the 
Slavic  race.  She  has  now  larger  possessions  in  Europe 
than  any  other  power,  besides  holding  all  the  North  of 
Asia  to  the  gi-eat  wall  of  China,  and  to  Japan.  Her 
possessions  on  the  Amoor  river  are  a  continent  in  them- 
selves almost,  while  she  extends  on  eastward  to  Beh- 
ring's  Straits,  and  embraces  a  large  share  of  the  north- 
west of  our  own  continent.  Russia,  too,  has  large  re- 
sources in  her  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth.  The 
precious  stones  of  the  world  are  found  in  her  mountains 
and  take  their  cut  and  finish  from  her  lapidaries  and  ai- 


FUTURE  OP  EMPIRE  AMONG  NATIONS.  251 

tizans.  She  touches  on  the  Baltic,  the  Black  and  Cas- 
pian Seas  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  embosoms  some 
of  the  largest  rivers  in  the  world.  She  has  undisputed 
sway  of  the  North  or  Polar  Sea,  and  of  whatever  of 
benefit  that  may  be.  The  Russians,  too,  are  an  active 
and  enterprising  people,  bold,  warlike,  and  determined 
race.  They  withstood  the  shock  of  the  Crimean  war, 
against  the  combined  attack  of  Turkey  and  weste'rn  Eu- 
rope, with  wonderful  firmness  and  sagacity.  On  the 
dissolution  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  which  can  be  only  a 
question  of  time,  Russia  must  gain  a  foothold  on  the 
Levant,  and  obtain  ready  access  for  her  products  and 
commerce  m  all  the  ports  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
south  of  Europe.  She  will,  too,  be  a  power  in  the  east, 
and  in  antagonism  or  in  concert  with  England  and  all 
her  Caucassian  family,  be  a  competitor  or  compeer  in  all 
the  products  and  wealth  of  Asia. 

Russia  is  the  apostle  of  the  Greek  church.  That 
faith  is  nearer  the  truth  than  the  Roman.  It  is  not  so 
integrally  embedded  in  paganism  and  image  worship. 
It'  is  more  sound  in  doctrine,  and  less  corrupt  in  rites 
and  ceremonies,  and  may  yield  more  easily,  and  be  more 
easily  conformed  to  the  demands  of  the  future  in  the 
Christian  church.  The  Russian  government  is  taking 
the  lead  of  its  people  in  the  work  of  reform  and  pro- 
gress. This  was  the  favorite  policy  of  Nicholas,  and  is 
of  the  reigning  Emperor.  Serfdom  is  getting  into  dis- 
favor and  desuetude.  Conditions  of  freedom  are  given, 
and  millions  on  millions  on  the  great  estates  of  the  em- 
pire are  elevated  to  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  taught 
the  lessons  of  liberty  and  law.     The  government  of  Rus- 


252  FUTUKE   OF   EMPIRE    AMONG  NATIONS. 

sia,  though  absolute,  is  patriarchal  and  beneficent.  The 
Czar  seeks  the  culture  and  growth  of  his  people, — their 
enlightenment,  industrial  wealth  and  prosperity, — and 
under  his  tutelage  they  are  evidently  gaining  in  all  the 
arts  of  life,  and  in  a  measure  of  Christian  civilization. 

That  would  seem  to  be  one  of  the  great  powers  of 
the  future,  to  divide  with  its  fellow  in  the  Saxon  line, 
the  empire  on  earth,  or  as  they  may  both  be  moulded 
by  an  oveiTuling  and  beneficent  Providence,  lead  the 
way  of  the  Gentiles  on  to  a  more  ultimate  period,  when 
"  the  desire  of  all  nations  shall  come,  and  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of 
His  Christ.." 

Our  forecast,  however  significant  from  fact  and  from 
the  indices  of  the  futm-e,  in  the  present  must  lose  itself 
in  the  prophetic  visions  of  the  Bible.  Those  are  clear 
on  our  pathway,  and  give  light  and  hope  for  the  "  ages 
to  come."  A  millennial  period  is  in  store  for  the  fu- 
ture of  the  earth's  history,  and  it  is  to  be  one  of  intelli- 
gence and  vu-tue, — sin  shall  have  had  its  day  of  mis- 
rule and  worked  out  its  problems  of  mischief  and  con- 
demnation and  a  brighter  day  shall  ensue.  Of  this  we 
are  sure,  whatever  may  be  the  human  forces  that  shall 
be  used  for  its  coming.  If  those  here  indicated  shall  be 
sufficient  to  it  they  may  lead,  or  otherwise  may  be  re- 
solved into  those  that  shall.  But  whatever  may  be  the 
local  or  national  agencies  which  shall  be  sanctified  and 
employed  to  bring  in  that  day,  it  assuredly  lies  in  the 
resen^e  of  history,  and  is  approaching.  As  it  is  the 
remarkable  issue  in  moral  government,  so  is  it  signalized 
in  Divine  prophecy.     And  it  will  be  a  period  of  un- 


FUTURE   OF   EMPIRE   AMONG   NATIONS.  253 

wonted  intellectuality,  prosperity  and  peace.  "For 
brass  I  will  bring  gold,  and  for  iron  I  will  bring  silver, 
and  for  wood,  brass,  and  for  stones,  iron.  I  will  also 
make  thy  officers  peace,  and  thine  exactors  righteous- 
ness. Violence  shall  no  more  be  heard  therein;  but 
thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  salvation,  and  thy  gates  praise." 
And  the  day  is  coming  that  shall  bring  it.  The  forces 
are  even  now  at  work  that  shall  avail  for  it.  They  are 
truth,  conscience,  and  the  God  and  Father  of  both. 
These  are  that  three-fold  cord  which  cannot  be  easily 
broken.  These  are  in  concert  and  coalition.  These  act 
together  and  strive  prevailingly  for  this  glad  consum- 
mation. Truth  is  constantly  in  progress  of  develop- 
ment and  manifestation.  In  physics  and  in  morals  is 
this  the  case, — in  matter  and  spirit, — in  science  and  re- 
ligion. And  truth  in  its  element  is  of  God,  and  with 
Him,  and  for  Him.  Its  progress  is  a  help  to  all  right- 
eousness. Sin  ^nd  wrong  are  begotten  of  darkness,  mis- 
take, and  misconception.  They  must  have  less  sway  in 
the  maturity  of  the  world's  intellect  and  observation. 
All  sin  may  yet  be  held  as  an  immorality  among  men 
and  impenitence  toward  God,  and  disloyalty  to 'Jesus 
be  accounted  an  anomaly,  a  vice  and  a  crime,  like  theft 
or  murder,  or  any  immorality  now.  Truth  is  the  child 
of  the  skies,  and  the  hand-maid  of  God.  Its  preval- 
ence is  sin's  detection  and  criticism.  It  is  the  increase 
of  moral  means  to  enlighten  and  sanctify.  It  unbur- 
dens the  conscience,  enlarges  the  vision,  sharpens  the 
intellect,  and  gives  it  reason  for  harmony  with  God. 
And  this  is  the  process  now  gradually  passing  over  the 
face  of  the  earth :  in  its  early  and  unripe  stages  yet  it 


254  FUTURE    OF   EilPIRE   AJMONG   NATIONS. 

may  be,  but  sure  to  culminate  and  be  perfected.  And 
it  will  under  God  usher  in  the  reign  of  the  Son  of  Man 
on  earth.  This  process  is  an  exceedingly  rational  one, 
as  well  as  supernatural  and  divine.  There  are  more 
helps  for  the  check  and  cure  of  sin,  than  there  were  means 
for  its  prevention  at  first,  and  they  are  multiplying  every 
day.  All  knowledge  and  fact  and  experience  will 
strengthen  them,  and  God  mil  see  them,  and  in  His  own 
divine  sufficiency  avail  for  the  issue,  and  the  empire  of 
Christ  be  the  ultimate  and  universal  empire  among  men. 
His  gospel  is  built  in  the  first  truths  of  reason,  and  is  a 
revelation  from  the  bosom  of  the  infinite  reason  of  God. 
It  will  bear  the  light  of  the  latter  day,  it  shall  be  the 
gi'eat  factor  of  it,  when  the  light  of  the  moon  shall  be 
as  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  the  light  of  the  sun  seven- 
fold. False  religions  will  die  out  in  the  light  of  the  fu- 
ture ;  superstitions  go  Into  desuetude,  from  the  veiy  in- 
telligence of  the  ages  to  come,  and  eiTo^^s  cease  to  ob- 
scure and  mislead.  The  gospel  will  hold  on  and  gain 
sway,  because  it  is  time  and  of  God,  and  become  univer- 
sally the  religion  of  men,  in  its  purity  and  power.  Then 
verily  shall  God  dwell  on  earth  by  His  Spiiit,  and  its 
millennial  state  come.  Prophecy  will  have  its  fulfill- 
ment, and  the  earth  for  a  long  succession  of  ages,  be 
the  abode  of  knowledge,  righteousness,  prosperity  and 
peace. 


HIGHEST   USEFULNESS.  255 


II. 

THREE  LECTURES  AT  BELOIT  COLLEGE. 


LECTURE  I. 

HIGHEST  USEFULNESS. 

There  are  two  plans  of  life,  which  may  be  formed,  in 
entering  actively  npon  it : — one  is  to  get  good,  and  the 
other  to  do  good, — the  one  to  be  happy, — the  other  to 
be  useful, — the  one  to  live  to  pleasm-e,  and  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  propensities  and  cravings  of  our  animal  and 
sentient  nature,  or  even  the  aesthetic  or  intellectual  of 
our  being,  and  the  other  to  live  for  society,  and  for 
God,  in  obedience  to  the  high  spiritual  imperatives 
of  the  soul. 

The  first  is  self-concentrative,  and  it  has  many  ad- 
herents and  admirers.  "  Many  there  be  that  cry,  who 
will  show  us  any  good  !"  Self  is  its  shrine  of  worship. 
Its  votary  lives  to  be  hapj^y,  in  some  form.  His  end  is 
self-gratification.  He  uses  all  else  as  a  means  to  this, 
and  puts  a  value  on  all  things,  according  to  their  influ- 
ence on  this.  He  subsidizes  the  universe,  so  far  as  he 
can,  to  his  pui'pose, — yea,  even  the  God  of  the  universe, 
too.  His  self-respect  becomes  selfishness.  He  is  for- 
getful of  the  claims  of  others,  and  the  rights  of  a  com- 


256  .  HIGHEST   USEFULNESS. 

mon  humanity,  and  the  brotherhood  of  all  as  creatures 
of  God,  and  the  behests  of  virtue  and  piety. 

The  other  principle  goes  out  of  self,  and  finds  its 
direct  and  main  object  in  a  sphere  beyond  it.  It  looks 
outward  and  away  from  self  It  enters  into  communion 
with  suffering,  and  spends  itself  on  wants  not  its  own. 
It  is  self-sacrificing — it  seeks  another's  good.  It  is  a 
helper  and  not  a  drone  or  disturber.  It  adds  to  the 
products  of  a  common  humanity,  for  the  benefit  of  all. 
It  is  a  producer,  and  not  a  mere  consumer,  and  in  the 
great  object  of  life  a  worker  together  with  God,  whose 
central  and  significant  name  is  "  love.''^ 

The  adherent  of  the  last,  has  the  same  individuality 
and  sensibilities,  as  that  of  the  first,  but  they  are  not  his 
ruling  law.  His  main  activity  is  beyond  them.  They 
are  incidental  to  his  governing  purpose,  while  in  view 
of  a  world  in  guilt  and  wretchedness,  and  a  God  to 
glorify,  he  asks :  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  f  * 

This  last  plan  of  life  has  advantages,  over  the  first, 
some  of  which  I  would  briefly  state : — 

1st. — It  is  larger.  It  spans  a  larger  arch, — it  takes  in 
a  wider  field, — it  is  a  faster  purpose,  and  is  in  its  nature 
a  more  sublime  idea.  The  first  is  crippling  and  confin- 
ing. It  narrows  down  the  aspirations  of  the  soul  to  a 
single  object,  and  that  comparatively  small.  There  is 
compression  in  it.  The  other  has  expansion  and  en- 
largement. It  puts  us  in  correlation  with  a  universe 
around,  and  with  God  who  made  it.  It  presents  to  the 
soul  objects  worthy  of  its  best  powers,  and  invites  to 
this  fullest  development.  We  all  know  the  power  of  a 
commanding  pui-pose — ^the  sway  of  a  gi'eat  idea.     Such 


HIGHEST   USEFULNESS.  257 

is  the  life  long  plan  of  doing  good.  It  brings  up  the 
soul  into  a  purer  atmosphere, — feeds  it  on  angels'  food, 
and  gives  it  volume  and  strength  for  all  that  is  moral 
and  great  and  good  in  its  being. 

For  this,  too,  were  we  made.  Each  in  an  important 
sense  is  part  of  a  whole — an  integer,  it  is  true,  in  him- 
self, but  in  connection  and  correspondence  with  all  else. 
In  the  family,  in  the  church,  in  society, — along  the  line 
of  the  race,  what  mutual  dependence, — what  social 
influences, — ^what  combined  results,  and  "  whether  one 
member  sufler  all  the  members  suffer  with  it,  or  one 
member  be  honored  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it." 
The  grand  idea  is  that  each  is  for  all  and  all  for  God. 

Again,  our  second  principle  of  action  and  plan  of  life 
is  more  modest  than  the  first, — it  is  less  self-pretentious 
and  assuming — ^less  belligerent  and  antagonistic,  to  the 
claims  and  rights  of  others.  What  would  become  of  us 
and  of  society,  should  each  draw  himself  off  into  a  little 
kingdom  by  himself  and  care  only  for  himself?  This 
principle  works  bad  enough  in  clans  and  states  and 
kingdoms  as  now  constituted  by  human  policy  and  the 
depraved  passions.  Let  it  become  universal,  and  the 
question  everywhere  be  asked:  "Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  f  and  our  state  here  would  be  intolerable  and 
existence  a  cm*se.  The  exigencies  in  which  we  are 
placed  compel  us  in  some  sort  to  be  contributors  to  the 
general  welfare,  and  demand  it  of  us,  that  we  live  not 
in  vain,  and  that  we  look  not  every  man  on  his  own 
things,  but  also  on  the  things  of  others. 
17 


258  HIGHEST   USEFULNESS. 

This,  too,  is  benevolent.  We  have  an  innate  conviction 
that  benevolence  is  better  than  selfishness.  We  recog- 
nize it  everywhere  as  a  higher  and  holier  principle.  We 
have  a  veneration  for  the  man  who  lays  himself  out  for 
another's  good,  and  spends  himself  in  self-denying  acts 
of  kindness  and  philanthropy.  What  has  given  such 
sweetness  to  the  name  of  Howard,  or  traced  on  the 
records  of  all  time,  the  act  of  her  who  poured  the  box 
of  ointment  on  her  Saviour's  head  ?  Selfishness  rough- 
ens the  character — is  dictatorial,  and  impervious,  and 
unforgiving ;  "  charity  suffereth  long  and  is  kind, — 
vaunteth  not  itself, — is  not  puffed  u]), — is  not  easily 
provoked, — thinketh  no  evil."  What  a  world  would  this 
be,  did  the  law  of  kindness,  beneficence  and  love,  obtain 
universally  in  it,  and  were  our  race  brought  up  to  the 
high  elevation  of  that  charity  which  seeketh  not  her 
own.  This  is  the  Bible  idea  of  a  perfected  humanity, 
and  this  do  we  anticipate  in  the  ages  to  come. 

And  then  again  it  is  God-like,  "  For  God  is  love,"  and 
we  ought,  and  it  is  our  highest  excellence  to  live  on  the 
same  principles  that  .He  does  and  to  the  same  ends. 
Intelligence  is  the  same  element  of  living  in  the  finite 
as  in  the  infinite.  "Be  ye  perfect  even  as  your  Father 
in  Heaven  is  perfect."  Christ  was  the  embodiment  and 
manifestation  of  the  Deity  in  human  flesh,  and  he  was 
our  pattern  too.  His  mission  on  earth  was  a  mission  of 
love.  His  life,  his  death,  his  doctrine,  his  work, — oh ! 
what  a  divine  charity  pervaded  all — what  love  through 
all  His  accents  ran — how  unselfish — how  He  offered 
Himself  a  sacrifice  for  us,  and  yet  he  is  set  forth  as  our 
example,  that  we  should  walk  in  his  steps. 


IIIGHKST    USEFULNESS.  259 

"How  charming  is  divine  philosophy — 
Not  harsh  and  crabbed,  as  dull  fools  suppose, 
But  musical  as  Apollo's  lute  : 
A  continued  feast  of  nectared  sweets, 
Where  no  crude  surfeit  reigns." 

And  then,  this  method  secures  all  the  reallij  valuable  ends 
arrived  at  in  the  first,  in  a  better  manner  and  in  a  higher 
degree  than  that  does.  "  He  that  loseth  his  life  shall 
find  it."  What  a  paradox,  and  yet  literally,  securely, 
gloriously  true.  Great  sacrifices  lead  to  great  rewards — 
the  unselfish  man  has  the  most  comforts.  Which  is  the 
most  happy  child,  think  you,  the  one  that  yields  itself 
in  ever  kindly  ministrations  to  others  and  would  make 
all  happy  about  it,  or  that  which  is  selfish  and  exacting 
— the  one  that  must  be  ever-fed  with  sugar-plums,  and 
supplied  with  toys,  or  the  one  that  goes  out  Avith  alacri- 
ty, on  missions  of  love  to  others  ? 

Here  is  the  source  of  the  deep  and  rich  satisfaction  of 
the  good  man. 

What  could  have  tempted  Howard  from  his  labors 
of  love  ?  The  wealth  of  the  Indies  could  not  drain  the 
resources  of  comfort  in  the  mind  of  the  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles.  The  world  could  not  buy  it.  In  my  soul,  I 
believe  that  the  self-denying  man  or  woman  of  God, 
who  takes  his  life  in  his  hand,  and  gives  himself  to  a 
mission  of  love,  to  distant  and  untutored  heathen,  often 
enjoys  more  in  this  life  than  falls  to  the  lot  of  other 
men — has  a  higher  satisfaction — a  cup  more  running 
over  with  blessings  fuller  of  divine  comforts  that  feast 
the  soul  and  add  no  sorrow. 

And  then,  lastly : — This  is  the  way  of  the  conscience. 


260 


HIGHEST   USEFULNESS. 


We  know  that  thus  we  ought  to  do  ;  that  this  is  our 
true  expression  as  those  made  in  the  image  of  God. 
"We  are  dissatisfied  with  ourselves  without  this.  An 
inward  monitor  upbraids  us,  and  life  is  often  rendered  a 
burden  by  the  mere  stupidity  and  selfishness  and  un- 
profitableness thereof  Conscience  dictates  to  activity 
and  duty.  The  imperatives  of  the  soul  call  upon  us, 
to  be  like  our  Father  in  Heaven,  who  causes  "  the  sun 
to  shine,  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  sends  his  rain 
upon  the  just  and  the  unjust."  And  we  do  not  arrive 
at  the  true  prerogatives  and  behest  of  man,  as  an  intel- 
ligent and  responsible  being  after  a  divine  likeness,  till 
we  conceive  of  him  in  a  sphere  of  labor  and  usefulness 
in  the  cause  of  God  and  his  fellow  man, — we  do  not 
get  at  his  utmost  development  or  truest  end,  till  we  find 
him  a  devotee  of  truth,  and  righteousness,  and  goodness, 
in  their  own  rights  and  for  their  own  sake. 

But  I  have  an  object  in  presenting  these  thoughts  to 
you  n6w.  The  theatre  of  active  life  is  yet  before  you, 
and  you  are  in  the  work  of  preparation  for  it.  The 
grand  decision  it  may  be  is  yet  to  be  made.  I  would 
have  you  make  it  with  intelligence  and  discretion.  The 
time  is  opportune.  It  is  a  plan  for  life — for  all  the 
future.  In  after  life  a  new  and  general  direction  is  not 
so  easily  taken.  One  settles  down  somewhere  and 
somehow  at  random  and  haphazard,  if  not  otherwise, 
and  then  the  exigencies  and  manner  of  life  are  imposed 
upon  him  veiy  much,  whether  he  will  or  no.  He  has 
fallen  into  the  nets  that  he  can  not  get  out  of  He  can 
only  plod  on  in  the  sphere  where  he  is,  however  humble 
and  diminutive.     He  is  encased  in  his  circumstances, 


HIGHEST   USEFULNESS.  261 

and  be  can  no.t  break  tbe  shell  that  encloses  bim,  but 
must  pass  on  to  bis  grave,  filling  only  the  little  sphere, 
and  moving  in  the  small  circle  in  which  previous  life 
has  placed  him.  But  you  are  at  the  entrance  of  the 
paths.  You  can  covet  the  best  gifts — you  can  obey  and 
follow  the  noblest  aspirations  of  the  soul,  and  lay  your 
plans  for  life,  so  as  to  .become  the  benefactors  of  man, 
on  the  scale  of  the  highest  usefulness,  and  in  enlarged 
spheres,  and  with  aims  that  shall  meet  the  divine  ap- 
proval, and  be  in  honor,  and  praise,  and  gratitude  at 
last.  You  may  select  on  the  one  principle  I  have  named, 
and  you  may  on  the  other.  Hence  the  suggestion  I 
make. 

Everyone  is  bound  to  get  a  living  by  that  which  does 
not  hurt.  But  mere  negative  virtue  does  not  satisfy. 
To  be  drones  will  not  do.  Our  inward  selves,  and  all 
exterior  relations  revolt,  and  again  I  say  in  the  language 
of  another,  "  shoot  the  arrow  high."  "  Expect  great 
things,  and,  in  God's  name,  attempt  them."  Society 
has  claims  on  us,  and  the  age  too,  and  so  has  all  the 
future."  "  No  man  liveth  to  himself,  and  no  man  dieth 
to  himself"  We  have  domestic  and  social  relations 
and  responsibilities — a  country  to  serve — a  world  to 
save,  as  workers  together  with  God,  and  a  God  to 
glorify. 

These  claims  radiate  in  all  directions.  There  is  the 
cause  of  humanity  and  virtue,  and  we  may  become 
Howard-like  in  our  direction  of  effort.  The  cause  of 
literature  and  science  and  the  world,  needs  to  be  filled 
with  a  substantial  and  well-poised  Christian  literature, 
for  the  training  of  the  present  and  all  future  time — 


262  HIGHEST   USEFULNESS. 

eveiy  art  and  eveiy  science  to  be  wrought  into  higher 
embellishment,  and  carried  on  to  higher  perfection — the 
cause  of  legislation,  and  all  the  great  civil  interests 
of  the  State  and  of  the  world.  We  want  large-hearted 
and  sound  and  honest-minded  men  at  the  bar  and  on 
the  bench,  and  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  in  all  the 
commerce  and  business  of  ordinaiy  life;  and  then  we 
want  men  of  science  and  skill,  and  thorough  discipline 
and  training  for  the  cure  of  the  hochj  and  the  cure  of  the 
soul.  I  dwell  a  little  on  this  last.  "What  an  amount  of 
men  and  talent  is  needed  to  supply  the  world  with  Gos- 
pel ministers  ?  Look  over  Christendom — over  heathen- 
dom. This  profession  is  doubtless  the  least  supplied, 
and  the  most  in  want,  of  any.  A  friend,  whose  engage- 
ments led  him  to  investigate  the  subject,  states  that  in 
the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  denominations  in 
this  country,  there  are  now  fourteen  hundred  vacancies, 
where  congregations  are  actually  formed,  and  churches 
planted;  and  some  of  them  among  the  largest  and 
most  important  in  the  land.  It  may  be  thought  that 
this  profession  does  not  pay  well.  In  simple  dollars 
and  cents  this  may  be  true,  sometimes,  and  yet  I  think 
it  is  coming  to  be  more  appreciated  by  all  classes  of  the 
community.  But  here  is  the  principle : — "  He  that 
loseth  his  life  shall  find  it ;"  and  still  more  significantly 
by  the  Saviour  in  another  place  : — "  He  that  loseth  his 
life  for  my  sake  and  the  Gospel's,  shall  find  it  unto  life 
eternal."  Yet  this  calling,  when  truly  and  benevolently 
chosen,  and  the  mind  and  life  consecrated  to  it,  is  not 
without  its  comforts  and  joys,  and  its  ministration  of 
that  to  the  human  spirit,  which  is  far  above  all  that  this 


HIGHEST   USEFULNESS.  263 

world  can  give.  And  God  can  make  his  own  divine 
sufficiency  bear  benignly  on  it,  and  does.  It  has  study 
and  thought,  and  mental  and  spiritual  development  in 
its  prosecution.  It  is  conversant  with  the  highest  truth, 
with  that  respecting  God,  and  the  relations  of  God  to 
man  and  of  man  to  God.  Daniel  Webster  was  univer- 
sally esteemed  a  great  man;  but  in  what  lay  his 
strength  ?  In  his  early  Christian  training,  in  his  Bible 
education,  in  the  religious  element  of  his  early  life,  in 
being  conversant  with  the  great  and  the  good  in  the 
ideas  of  God  and  religion,  which  he  never  forgot. 
There  is  then  intellectuality  in  this  calling.  It  has,  too, 
sympathy  with  man  and  God,  and  enters  up  eminently 
into  angelic  sympathies.  It  is  something  to  be  about 
that  \rhich  God  has  commanded,  and  which  needs  to  be 
done  ;  to  be  in  the  direct  line  of  God's  redeeming 
providence,  and  to  have  life  consecrated  to  the  great  end, 
which  fills  the  heart  of  Infinite  love.  "  Go  ye  into  all 
the  world,"  &c.  Other  professions  have  their  value, 
and  we  may  follow  them  and  serve  God  too.  Good 
men  are  wanted  everywhere,  and  the  question  of  adap- 
tation comes  fairly  in.  But  let  life  be  a  work  on  the 
best  models  and  the  highest  principles.  In  such  a 
world  and  such  an  age,  and  with  prophecies  and  promi- 
ses and  commands  before  you,  weigh  well  the  course 
you  take, — aim  high,  be  the  men  we  want.  Live  to 
purposes  that  will  bear  a  final  investigation  and  stand 
approved  when  all  the  blest  get  home. 


264  self-control;  or,  self-government. 


LECTURE  II. 

SELF-CONTROL ;  OR,  SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

Man  has  an  individuality  of  being.  Like  all  else,  in 
organized  existence,  he  is  an  integer  in  himself.  He  may 
have  relations  to  all  else,  but  he  is  a  complete  unity  in 
his  own  proper  being.  He  is  an  entire,  unique,  indi- 
viduated personality  in  and  of  himself.  He  comes  forth 
into  life,  a  separate,  distinct,  completed  unity ;  he  passes 
such  over  life's  theatre,  and  such  he  goes  down  to  the 
grave,  and  enters  the  dark  valley.  He  dies  alone.  No 
one  beside  can  live  for  him  or  die  for  him.  He  is  him- 
self, in  his  own  proper  oneness  and  individuality,  and 
will  always  be  so.  Having  begun  to  be,  he  will  never 
cease  to  be.  Henceforth  his  future  will  be  commensu- 
rate with  the  years  of  God,  in  the  living,  conscious,  dis- 
tinct, personal  individuality  of  his  being. 

Man  is  a  responsible  being.  He  has  duties  to  dischai'ge 
and  moral  relations  to  sustain,  in  his  own  proper  per- 
sonality. The  question  of  obligation  attaches  to  him. 
This  is  a  doctrine  of  consciousness.  He  feels  bound  to 
be,  and  do  this,  and  not  that.  It  is  indeed  impossible, 
that  a  being  so  constituted,  with  intellect,  susceptibility 
and  will,  should  not  be  responsible.  •  The  doctrine  of  law 
applies  to  him, — the  sentiment  of  accountability  he  feels 
in  himself  and  accredits  and  respects  it  in  his  fellow.  It 
is  imposed  upon  him  by  an  inward  law,  by  his  outward 


self-control;    or,    SBiT^F-GOVERIirMENT.  265 

condition.     It  is  matter  of  consciousness  and  of  divine 
revelation. 

But  in  order  to  accountability,  there  must  be  in  us 
the  element  of  self-control  and  self-government.  In  the 
on-going  of  physical  nature,  there  is  no  responsibility : 
in  the  growth  of  the  plant,  or  the  movements  of  sentient 
animal  life.  There  must  be  in  man  a  higher  style  of 
life.  He  rises  up  out  of  the  physical  into  the  moral 
sphere.  He  must  have  power  to  know  himself,  to  rec- 
ognize his  relations  to  law,  and  the  whole  matter  of  ob- 
ligation and  duty,  with  power  to  choose  the  right,  and 
refuse  the  wrong.  At  the  point  where  responsibility 
lies,  there  must  be  in  him  a  sovereignty  of  election,  as  to 
the  path  he  will  take, — as  to  the  way  he  will  turn, — as 
to  the  choice  he  will  make,  and  the  voluntaiy  course  he 
will  pursue.  This  is  a  province  which,  in  its  actual  en- 
actment and  issuing,  is  wholly  his  own,  lies  within  him- 
self, and  is  in  and  of  his  own  power,  and  the  act  in  it  is 
properly  a  creation  of  his  own  as  cause.  He  does  it, 
and  no  other  being  does.  It  is  in  the  sanctuary  of  his 
own  individual  being  and  life,  and  responsibility.  He 
loves — he  hates — he  repents — he  believes — he  obeys  or 
disobeys — accepts  or  refuses — yields  to  truth,  duty  and 
right,  or  rejects  it — chooses  life  or  death.  Influences 
may  lie  in  his  pathway — yea,  a  universe  of  motive  may 
crowd  around  and  press  upon  him,  yet  here  is  a  sover- 
eignty all  his  own.  He  can  comply  or  not  comply, — he 
can  choose  the  good,  or  the  evil, — under  the  responsi- 
bilities to  which  conscience  and  truth  and  duty  and  God 
hold  him,  as  a  free,  moral  agent ;  he  can  choose  light  or 
darkness, — yield  to  the  right,  or  hold  out  in  the  wrong, 


266  SELF-CX)NTKOL ;    6Rj    SELF-G0VERX5IENT. 

— resist  or  submit — fall  freely  and  with  all  his  heart  into 
the  right  relations  of  his  being,  or  maintain  a  warfare 
on  them.  It  is  not  my  design  to  be  too  serious,  here, 
although  the  subject  has  its  practical  bearings  on  the 
great  subject  of  religion  and  the  life  of  the  soul.  1 
state  rather  its  elemental,  metaphysical  gi'ound.  No  one 
is  ever  placed  where  he  cannot  do  right,  or  where  the 
election  of  his  voluntary  state  and  course  is  not  essen- 
tially and  properly  his  own,  and  in  his  own  power. 

And  it  is  enough  to  say  that  this  is  the  nature  of  the 
intelligence ;  this  is  of  our  essential  being  as  those  made 
in  the  image  of  God.  We  should  not  be  intelhgent, 
rational  beings  in  the  likeness  of  God  Avithout  this. 
We  may  say  it  with  reverence,  but  the  most  High  could 
not  make  us  in  that  likeness  without  giving  us  this  at- 
tribute ;  and  if  God  is  perfect,  then  the  intelligence  of 
man  is  in  itself  a  perfect  work,  and  the  moral  sphere,  in 
its  right  and  proper  on-going,  the  highest  possible  sphere 
of  being  and  a  perfect  one.  God  has  made  us  so,  and 
in  this,  has  made  us  as  only  we  could  be,  and  be  intelli- 
gent beings,  endowed  with  a  mind,  in  correspondence 
Avith  Him  and  like  Him. 

And  this  is  a  doctrine  of  consciousness.  We  have  the 
conviction  of  just  this  element  in  our  being.  No  one 
Avas  ever  tempted  to  do  Avrong,  without  the  conviction 
that  he  need  not  comply  with  the  temptation, — that  he 
can  decline  its  suggestion,  and  withhold  compliance.  No 
one  ever  sinned,  witjiout  feeling  that  he  need  not,  and 
ought  not, — and  that  he  had  power  in  the  premises  to 
have  refused  the  wrong,  and  maintained  his  integrity  as 


self-control;  or,  self-government.  267 

a  righteous  being.  No  one  ever  felt  obliged  to  do 
wrong.  The  dictates  of  reason,  and  the  facts  of  con- 
sciousness agree  in  this,  and  give  in  their  teachings  a 
legitimate  accountability  here,  in  the  jurisdiction  which 
we  have,  over  our  voluntary  States,  and  the  putting  forth 
of  our  acts  of  will  in  the  right  or  wrong  direction  in 
obedience  to  the  word  and  will  of  God,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  all  truth  and  righteousness,  or  their  opposite. 
Hence  the  sense  of  guilt  and  shame  and  remorse,  when 
we  do  wi'ong, — the  self-reproach  and  self-condemnation 
attendant  on  the  commission  of  sin,  and  on  a  life  and 
course  of  transgression.  We  are  unsustained  in  it,  by 
our  own  minds,  and  in  our  own  reflections.  We  up- 
braid ourselves  and  say, — "How  came  we  to  do  so? 
Why  did  we  so  depart  from  the  right,  and  commit  in- 
iquity and  sin  against  God,  when  an  open  course  lay  be- 
fore us  in  obedience  to  his  commands,  and  in  compli- 
ance with  the  claims  of  reason  and  our  own  spiritual 
being  f 

Hence  sin  is  wont  to  be  timid,  and  unself-reliant. 
Men  steal  in  the  dark.  "  The  adulterer  walketh  forth 
in  the  twilight  and  disguiseth  his  face."  Wrong  action 
is  fiill  of  subterfuges, — innuendos, — clap-traps, — double- 
dealing,  and  tergiversation,  and  attempts  to  give  false 
coloring  to  it  and  to  justify  it  at  the  bar  of  reason  and 
conscience.  All  men  are  ashamed  of  it.  None  will  de- 
fend it,  in  its  simple  and  undisguised  nature  and  enor- 
mity. It  is  foreign  to  the  legitimate  and  normal  action 
of  the  intelligence, — hence,  evasions  and  excuses,  and 
pretenses  and  prevarication  about  it ;  and  hence  the  lan- 


of  im*^^'' 


268  self-control;  ok,  self-government. 

guage  of  that  prince  of  English  di-amatists — "  'tis  con- 
science does  make  cowards  of  us  all." 

"  The  thief  doth  esteem  each  hush  an  officer."  And 
the  Bible  has  said,  "  The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pm*- 
sueth,  but  the  righteous  are  bold  as  a  lion." 

But  enough  at  this  point,  and  the  suggestion  is  here 
in  place  that  as  this  sovereignty  of  election  is  in  us,  and 
this  absolute  power  of  determining  our  voluntary  states 
and  conduct,  so  is  it  no  where  else  : — it  is  in  the  custo- 
dy of  no  other  being.  Others  may  influence, — may 
seek  out  occasions,  and  present  considerations,  but  they 
cannot  determine  the  action  we  take, — they  cannot  en- 
ter into  our  minds, — take  up  our  personality,  and  enact 
our  action  in  the  premises.  This  indeed  is  not  the  pro- 
vince of  the  Infinite  one.  God  does  not  repent  for  us, — 
or  love,  or  hate,  or  submit,  or  exercise,  or  take  upon 
himself  our  personality  or  assume  om-  responsibility. 
There  is  a  sphere  there  which  is  ours  and  not  His, — it  is 
that  of  compliance  with  duty  and  right  and  resistance 
of  wi'ong.  His  control  here  is  mediate  and  instrument- 
al. The  act  is  ours  and  the  election  and  sovereignty 
over  it,  whether  we  will  do  it  or  not,  is  ours,  and  on  a 
responsibility  which  we  cannot  shake  off.  Hence,  the 
economy  of  means  in  God's  moral  kingdom ; — the  ex- 
hortations He  uses,  the  instructions  He  gives,  the  com- 
minations  He  makes,  and  the  forbearance  He  shows, — 
the  doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments,  and  a  state  of 
actual  retribution,  where  probation  and  its  appropriate 
grounds  of  action  and  its  moral  economy  is  exhausted — 
into  which  enters  the  element  of  physical  power.     It  is 


SELF-CONTROL  5    OR,   SELF-GOVERNMENT.  269 

the  physical  condition  of  the  lost,  that  is  subject  to  God 
and  His  control,  and  not  the  state  of  their  hearts. 

And  this  is  just  the  responsibility  that  lies  inherently 
in  us  and  is  of  our  essential  being  as  those  made  in  the 
likeness  of  God.  It  is  just  that  which  is  imposed  upon 
us  by  God  himself,  and  by  all  the  relations  and  facts  of 
existence  ;  and  it  is  just  that  from  which  we  can  never 
screen  ourselves  and  which  we  can  never  evade.  It  is 
on  us  wherever  we  go,  and  wherever  we  are.  No  more 
can  we  flee  from  it  than  from  the  presence  of  God, — no 
more  can  we  escape  it  than  we  can  the  destinies  of  that 
eternity  which  awaits  the  action  we  take  and  the  course 
we  pursue.  Here  is  the  j^i'^ot  of  that  destiny, — the  cen- 
tral element  of  that  personal  being,  which  God  has 
given  us  for  good  and  not  evil, — for  right  and  not 
wrong, — for  vindication  and  justification,  and  honor  and 
glory; — and  not  for  dishonor,  and  condemnation,  and 
woe. 

And  it  is  well  to  be  possessed  of  this  characteristic  of 
mind, — of  ourselves  indeed,  and  personal  being,  in  its 
scientific  relations,  as  well  as  in  its  practical  bearings  on 
us  in  our  life,  conduct  and  character.  It  is  well  to  rec- 
ognize it  as  the  seat, — the  ultimate  gi-ound  of  the  per- 
sonality,— that  which  more  than  anything  else  consti- 
tutes the  personal  me — the  /,  mij  selj^ — and  gives  to  us 
the  responsibilities  of  an  intelligent  existence.  It  is  of 
value  to  us  now, — it  is  of  value  for  the  future.  It  is  so 
in  respect  to  ourselves  and  our  separate  estate,  allot- 
ments and  destiny, — it  is  so  in  our  relations  with  others, 
in  all  the  associations  and  intercourse  of  life.  As  this 
is  the  centre  of  our  personal  self,  and  that  on  which  the 


270  self-control;  or,  self-government. 

image  of  God  is  traced,  and  which  puts  us  in  corres- 
pondence with,  and  makes  us  like  Him,  so  can  it  be  the 
highest  privilege  of  our  being.  It  is  written — "  Be  ye 
holy  for  I  am  holy."  Man  and  angel  can  be  righteous, 
as  God  is  righteous,  and  holy  as  God  is  holy.  We  need 
not  lose  our  birthright.  We  need  not  fail  of  the  great 
end  of  our  being,  and  sink  to  the  level  of  the  herds  of 
the  stall,  and  below  them,  while  God  calls  us  to  glory 
and  virtue ;  and  since  our  race  has  lapsed  into  sin,  this 
personal  prerogative  is  not  lost;  and  we  have  many 
helps  to  regain  the  light,  the  good  and  the  true.  God 
has  come  down  to  us ;  redemption  is  jDreached  through 
the  great  atonement,  and  we  are  called  to  glory  and  vir- 
tue in  Jesus  Christ. 

The  seat  of  the  struggle  is  located  between  the  pas- 
sions and  the  conscience, — between  the  lower  and  the 
higher  nature  -or  sphere  of  being, — between  the  appe- 
tites of  the  flesh,  and  the  imperatives  of  the  spirit, — be- 
tween the  impulses  and  cravings  of  the  animal  nature, 
and  the  efforts  of  sinful  habit  and  propensity,  on  the 
one  hand,  to  bring  down  the  soul  in  subjection,  in  the 
end  of  selfish  gratification  and  sinister  and  depraved  in- 
dulgence ;  and  the  spiritual  convictions  of  our  constitu- 
ent being  as  made  in  the  image  of  God,  on  the  other. 
The  Apostle  graphically  characterizes  the  two,  by  call- 
ing them,  "  The  law  in  the  members,  and  the  law  in  the 
mind ;  and  affectingly  describes  the  war  between  them. 
May  I  quote  a  verse  or  two  : — "  I  find  then  a  law  that 
when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with  me.  For  I 
delight  in  the  law  of  God,  after  the  inward  man,  but  I 
see  another  law  in  my  members  warring  against  the  law 


self-control;  or,  self-government.  271 

of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law 
of  sin  which  is  in  my  members  "  Yes,  here  is  the  field 
of  strife, — the  battle-ground  of  the  giant  elements  of 
our  moral  being, — the  struggle,  the  conflict,  and  the  vic- 
tory, on  either  hand,  is  here,  and  here  the  great  ques- 
tions of  destiny  and  the  soul  are  decided,  and  decided 
forever.  It  is  well,  then,  to  concentrate  attention  at  this 
point, — to  summon  our  highest  energies  here,  and  bring- 
to  our  aid,  in  behalf  of  the  right,  the  God-like  and  the 
true,  all  the  helps  that  the  case  admits  of 

In  this  contest,  reason,  conscience,  and  the  impera- 
tives of  the  sou^,  are  in  the  right.  They  claim  prece- 
dence^ and  should  have  it.  Conscience  is  of  right  the 
ruling  element  in  us,  and  should  have  the  sway  there. 
Hers  is  of  right  the  supremacy  and  the  jurisdiction,  and 
she  will  never  yield  her  claim,  and  whenever  we  foolish- 
ly or  wickedly  throw  the  reign  on  the  neck  of  the  pas- 
sions, and  trample  on  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and 
turn  a  deaf  ear  to  her  remonstrances,  and  lay  in  the  dust 
these  spiritual  imperatives  of  the  soul,  it  will  assuredly 
be  to  our  cost.  Sooner  or  later  that  conscience  will  rise 
again  from  the  dishonor  we  have  heaped  upon  it,  and  if 
we  continue  to  refuse  her  rights  and  reject  her  counsels, 
will  continually  sting  us  with  self-reproach  and  remorse, 
and  in  some  world  beget  in  our  inmost  souls  the  an- 
guish of  the  "worm  that  never  dies." 

On  all  moral  questions  then — in  the  whole  sphere 
of  duty  and  righteousness,  follow  conscience.  Go  for 
the  right,  and  go  at  once  without  hesitation  or  doubt. 
Obey  the  promptings  of  this  spiritual  monitor  within. 
Seek  the  truth  from  all  sources  open  to  you,  and  con- 


272  self-control;  or,  self-government. 

scientiously  act  upon  it,  and  govern  yourselves  accord- 
ingly. Keep  under  the  body,  as  St.  Paul  strikingly  ex- 
presses it,  and  let  the  suggestions  of  the  flesh  and  the 
appetites  and  propensions  of  the  law  in  the  members  be 
in  obedience  to  the  higher  law  of  the  soul.  In  the 
whole  sphere  of  our  moral  and  responsible  being,  let 
God  and  conscience  be  our  watchword,  and  command 
from  us,  implicit  obedience  and  trust.  Then  it  is  that 
we  truly  come  up  into  the  spiritual  of  our  being,  and 
gain  in  fellowship  with  the  Divine  our  being's  true  end  5 
and  it  is  some  encourasjement  to  know  that  this  we  can 
do,  and  that  we  have  many  helps  thereto,  from  God 
above,  and  from  those  spu'itual  inspirations  within,  which 
are  God-sends  in  our  own  bosoms.  We  have  a  destiny 
to  grapple  with  and  we  must  meet  its  issue ;  we  may 
have  lost  something  by  delay  and  irresolution,  but  the 
ocean  of  trath  lies  on  the  side  of  right — the  grounds 
of  moral  action  are  all  there.  There  are  all  the  good 
influences  in  the  universe — there  is  the  helping  hand 
of  heaven  and  of  good  men  on  eai*th.  Follow  there — 
follow  implicitly,  cordially,  penitently,  com-ageously  and 
confidently  in  God,  and  truly  in  submission  to  the  de- 
mands of  your  responsible  and  immortal  being ;  yes, 
follow  there,  and  you  shall  find  it  to  be  life  and  peace 
to  your  soul. 


SOCIAL  RESPONSIBILITY.  273 


LECTURE  III. 

SOCIAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 

Two  principles  lie  at  the  basis  of  morals,  and  of  all 
the  reciprocal  duties  of  life : — self-respect  and  mutual 
respect,  with  these  correlates — that  of  supreme  respect 
and  reverence  for  God,  in  which  lies  the  germ  of  all 
worship  and  religion.  These  are  comprehensive  of  the 
moral  sphere,  and  take  up  all  the  relations  of  moral 
tnith.  A  man  may — ^yea,  he  must  respect  himself,  for 
he  is  made  in  his  constituent  being,  in  the  image  of  God. 
He  has  that  intelligence  which  puts  him  in  correspon- 
dence with  God,  and  through  which  he  enters  into 
communion  and  fellowship  with  all  that  is  pure  and 
lovely  in  moral  being, — and  he  should  do  nothing  to 
debase  his  heavenly  birth,  and  mar  his  alliance  with  the 
pure  and  the  true  and  the  right, — nothing  as  a  race  or 
as  an  individual, — and  when  he  does,  the  discontent,  the 
shame,  the  self-reproach  and  humiliation,  which  are  con- 
sequent upon  his  sin  and  his  self-wrong,  and  which  are 
appropriate  to  him  then,  ai*e  but  the  working  of  this 
element  of  self-respect,  the  sense  of  what  is  due  to  him- 
self, in  its  application  to  one  in  these  circumstances. 
The  idea  of  what  God  has  made  us  as  rational  agents — 
as  spiritual  beings,  bound  to  reflect  his  image  and  to  be 
unto  glory  and  virtue  enters  into  the  very  woof  of  our 
humanity.  We  cannot  get  away  from  it,  nor  should  we 
18 


274  SOCIAL   RESPONSIBILITY. 

try.  It  is  the  safe-guard  of  virtue,  the  life-boat  of  the 
soul.  It  is  integrally  in  the  effort  for  recovery,  when 
we  have  fallen  into  wrong,  in  that  sense  of  the  right 
and  the  ought  in  our  being,  when  we  are  tempted  to  go 
astray,  and  which  leads  us  to  exclaim,  "  How  shall  I  do 
this  great  wickedness  and  sin  against  God." 

Kindred  to  this  is  the  sentiment  of  respect  for  others. 
We  transfer,  as  it  were,  our  being  to  them.  They  are 
specimens  of  the  same  common  humanity  with  ourselves, 
sustaining  like  relations  to  God  and  all  else.  The  prin- 
ciple of  relf-respect  becomes  mutual  or  social  respect 
when  transferred  to  them,  a  bond  that  stretches  over  the 
whole  sphere  of  intelligence  as  graduated  in  the  scale 
■  of  moral  being. 

Though  in  our  proper  selves  we  are  individuated,  we 
have  relations  to  others.  This  community  of  being  begets 
them — this  common  origin,  and  this  mutual  dependence, 
our  common  sympathies,  and  wants  and  destinies, — our 
mingled  circumstances, — the  ills  that  betide  us,  and  the 
one  great  law  of  providence  that  is  on  us. 

Relations  beget  duties.  The  doctrine  of  obligation 
runs  through  the  whole  sphere  of  our  relations  to  them. 
We  carry  over  our  moral  being  into  it,  and  live  again 
and  reenact  our  proper  personality  in  these 

As  related  to  others,  we  are  sources  of  influence  on  them. 
Moral  action  has  its  conditions.  Its  foreground  is  in 
the  intellect  and  the  sensibility.  To  act  intelligently 
and  responsibly,  we  must  act  in  view  of  something  we 
know  and  feel.     These  sources  and  conditions  of  action 


SOCIAL   RESPONSIBILITY.  275 

may  be  supplied  by  each  other.  Mind  acts  on  mind. 
Man,  in  a  thousand  ways,  influences  his  fellow.  Though 
distinctive  our  individuality,  we  are  social  in  our  posi- 
tion and  influence. 

It  is  tme,  that  the  influence  of  man  on  his  fellow,  is 
in  its  nature  resistible.  The  subject  of  it  may  resist  it, 
and  when  wrong  he  should.  He  is  not  under  the 
necessity  of  yielding  to  it.  If  in  the  wrong  direction, 
he  can,  through  the  spiritual  imperatives  of  his  own 
soul,  hold  on  to  his  integrity,  and  not  abase  himself  by 
these  contaminations  from  without,  or  from  his  inter- 
course with  his  fellow  men.  Still  they  are  influences, 
and  they  act  as  such.  They  appeal  to  the  voluntary  in 
us.  They  plead  for  indulgence.  Circumstances  may 
give  them  great  weight.  They  may  come  from  a  quar- 
ter entitled  to  respect — they  may  fall  in  with  indulged 
habit  and  propensity — they  may  fan  the  flame  of  cher- 
ished desire,  and  lift  the  soul  upon  the  wing  of  the 
passions.  The  law  of  influence  on  each  other  is  mani- 
fold and  wide  spread.  It  is  like  attraction  in  the  phy- 
sical sphere.  It  forms  the  very  net-work  of  society. 
It  is  like  an  enveloping  atmosphere.  It  is  everywhere 
with  its  thousand  voices,  and  methods  of  access  to  the 
mind  for  good  or  evil. 

We  are  responsible  for  our  influence  on  others.  It  is  a 
voluntary  state.  It  is  a  power  under  our  control.  It 
can  be  one  thing,  and  it  can  be  another ;  and  we  are 
responsible  for  having  it  what  it  should  be,  and  for  not 
having  it  what  it  should  not  be. 

Influence  is  exerted  in  various  ways.     It  springs  up 


276  SOCIAL   RESPONSIBILITY. 

from  all  the  relations  of  life.  The  parent  influences  his 
child — the  young  each  other:  comrades  and  friends 
feel  the  enchantments  of  this  mutual  attraction,  and  find 
their  course  in  life  much  deflected  and  shaped  by  its 
conditionating  influence.  Example  is  a  source  of  in- 
fluence. Human  nature  is  plastic  in  its  character.  It 
is  so  especially  among  the  young.  "  One  sinner  de- 
stroyeth  much  good."  This  example  may  be  as  the 
pestilence,  or  the  sirocco  of  the  desert.  Our  example 
may  do  hurt  when  we  are  not  directly  intending  it,  and 
when  we  least  expect  it.  There  is  a  kind  of  unconscious 
tuition  which  every  one  gives  off"  constantly,  and  which 
may  be  for  good  or  evil.  And  then,  how  much  of  direct 
eflbrt  do  we  make  to  influence  others.  The  heart  is  a 
fountain  of  influences.  We  seek  to  bear  others  along  in 
the  way  of  our  own  hearts.  We  take  pains  often.  The 
vicious  youth  would  have  companions  ;  the  thoughtless 
one,  admirers.  Habits  have  a  tendency  to  propagate 
themselves.  We  naturally  seek  to  bring  others  to  our 
own  level.  "  Evil  communications  coiTupt  good  man- 
ners." There  is  the  companionship  of  iniquity,  and 
while  it  is  true  that  "  evil  men  and  seducers  wax  worse 
and  worse,"  it  is  also  true,  that  they  draw  others  in 
their  train  to  death.  Hence  the  counsel  of  the  wise 
man  : — "  My  son,  if  sinners  entice  thee,  consent  thou 
not." 

We  give  forth  influences  by  look  and  gesture — by  the 
words  we  utter,  and  the  actions  we  perform — by  the 
general  pui'pose  and  conduct  and  aim  of  life,  and  by  the 
minute  development  of  every  day  and  hour  and  mo- 
ment— ^by  the  designs  we  entertain,  the  plans  we  pur- 


SOCIAL  RESPONSIBILITY.  277 

sue,  and  by  our  real  character.  Every  man  is  a  miiTor 
to  reflect  himself;  and  every  one  does  mainly  show  his 
real  self,  whatever  disguises  he  may  put  on,  and  what- 
ever deception  he  may  practice.  In  this  respect  then, 
we  are  responsible  to  be  what  we  should  be.  We 
really  have  no  right  to  be  found  in  the  ranks  of  sin  and 
wi'ong.  Our  example  is  an  injury — our  position  a  false 
light — our  veiy  self  then  a  lure  in  the  wrong  direction. 
But  I  would  make  the  hints  of  the  occasion  some- 
what more  appropriate.  I  observe  before  me  a  collec- 
tion of  young  men  and  youth,  associated  in  the  daily 
intercourse  and  business  of  life.  You  must  have  a  large 
influence  on  each  other,  and  do  much  for  each  others 
conduct  and  character — for  each  others'  welfare  and 
harm.  Other  men  are  comparatively  insulated  from 
each  other,  to  what  you  are.  You  have  a  community 
of  pursuits — you  dwell  much  in  the  society  of  each 
other.  You  are  in  the  unformed  and  plastic  period 
of  youth — in  the  hey-day  of  the  passions.  It  is  spring 
time  with  you :  the  soil  is  vigorous :  any  plant  will 
grow  there.  You  are  unsuspecting — incautious,  per- 
haps, and  social,  too,  from  the  very  exuberance  and 
prodigality  of  nature.  It  is  with  you  the  forming  time 
for  all  the  future.  In  far  distant  years  you  will  refer  to 
it ;  in  other  worlds,  perhaps,  as  the  period  where  great 
interests  were  settled — when  character  was  decided  and 
destiny  fixed.  And  you  will  allow  me  to  ask,  is  your 
influence  on  each  other  and  over  each  other  what  it 
should  be,  and  all  it  should  be  ?  In  a  community  so 
interesting,  and  in  the  midst  of  issues  so  absorbing,  and 
I  may  add,  so  sacred,  too,  are  you  all  you  can  be  for  the 


278  SOCIAL   RESPONSIBILITY. 

common  good  of  all,  and  do  you  watch  with  some  solic- 
itude the  contributions  which  you  individually  make  in 
this  behalf  ?  But  we  descend  from  this  general  inquiiy, 
and  from  the  religious  idea  contained  in  it,  and  contem- 
plate a  little  more  in  detail  the  matter  of  social  respon- 
sibility as  here  applied. 

1st. — As  students.  There  are  social  responsibilities  in 
reference  to  the  main  design  for  which  you  are  sent,  and 
for  which  you  are  here.  You  must  not  hinder,  but  help 
each  other.  I  do  not  mean  that  you  must  get  each 
others  tasks,  or  eke  out  their  poor  scholarship,  or  shelter 
their  responsibility.  This  would  but  hinder  them  in  the 
end  and  not  help.  But  you  are  bound  to  be  true  and 
faithful  students — ^to  make  a  full  and  proper  use  of  the 
powers  you  have — of  both  time  and  talents,  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  knowledge,  in  the  discipline  of  mind, — in 
attaining  those  sciences,  and  getting  the  mastery  of 
those  studies  and  subjects  of  thought  which  lie  in  your 
course.  You  are  bound  to  do  this  for  each  others'  sake, 
and  not  to  be  in  each  others'  way.  Each  should  be  for 
the  encouragement  of  all — should  bring  a  buoyant  and 
manly  heart  to  eveiy  study,  and  a  persistent  will  and  a 
determined  resolution,  to  meet  steadily  and  from  day  to 
day,  the  requisitions  of  college  life.  No  one  should  be 
a  drone  in  the  class-room,  or  hang  heavily  on  the  skirts 
of  his  fellows,  or  exhaust  the  time  and  patience  of  his 
teacher,  because  he  would  not  apply  himself  and  be 
ready  for  his  task.  The  question  of  social  responsibility 
enters  in  this  way  into  the  whole  curriculum  of  study. 
The  indolent,  unfaithful  and  negligent  scholar,  is  a 
hindrance  all  the  way.     Other  principles  enter  in  as  a 


SOCIAL   RESPONSIBILITY.  27^ 

stimulus  to  good  scholarship :  to  the  wise  improvement 
of  time,  and  the  best  application  of  om-  powers  in  the 
educational  process  ;  but  I  ppeak  of  this  now.  It  is  de- 
manded by  the  law  of  relationship  to  others.  We 
should  be  mutual  helpers  along  the  paths  of  science  5 
should  encourage  each  other  up  the  hill,  and  in  our  place 
and  turn,  and  from  point  to  point  evince  the  feasibility 
and  successes  of  the  way.  This,  indeed,  may  be  not  a 
justifiable  emulation  only,  but  become  a  holy  ardor 
even,  almost  a  sacred,  a  divine  enthusiasm.  It  may  be 
converted  into  a  channel  of  usefulness  and  be  among 
the  methods  of  filling  up  the  measure  of  duty  to  God 
and  our  fellow  men.  And  the  suggestion  here  made 
may  have  a  wide  scope.  It  may  be  taken  into  all  the 
relations  of  college  life,  and  spread  itself  over  the  whole 
sphere  of  obligation  in  this  regard, — punctuality  and 
promptness,  to  the  appointments  of  the  class-room,  the 
chapel,  the  teacher,  the  faculty, — the  observance  of  the 
laws  and  regulations  of  colleges,  and  the  design  for 
which  the  whole  are  instituted.  Be  ye  examples  of  this, 
and  thus  be  mutual  contributors  to  each  others'  advance- 
ment, and  eventually  good  and  glad  success  in  the  high 
end  of  your  common  association. 

2d. — General  Deportment.  I  think  we  are  bound  to  be 
gentlemen,  in  the  presence  of  each  other.  It  was  said 
of  a  distinguished  French  author,  that  he  could  not  do 
well  at  his  writing  desk,  unless  he  was  in  complete  dress 
for  the  assembly  room  or  the  evening  party.  And  if  a 
careless  habit  makes  a  dull  pen,  and  one's  own  thoughts 
take  the  hue  and  feel  the  neglect  of  his  person  and 
appearance,  how  much  more  should  the  hint  be  im- 


280  SOCIAL   RESPONSIBILITY. 

proved  in  the  society  of  each  other,  and  be  regarded  in 
all  the  intercourse  and  incidental  relations  of  life.  The 
remark  goes  to  the  point  of  general  manners,  of  good 
behaviour,  and  befitting  and  proper  deportment,  in 
these  constantly  recumng  companionships.  Much  of 
that  unconscious  tuition,  of  which  I  spoke,  lies  along 
these  channels,  and  that  atmosphere  of  mutual  influences 
which  envelop  us ;  and  the  principle  to  be  brought  over 
it,  and  which  is  to  permeate  as  an  energizing  vitality,  is 
that  of  kindness  and  mutual  respect.  This  is  the  law 
of  these  relationships.  It  will  harmonize  them  and 
bring  mutual  edification  and  comfort  and  honor  and 
blessing  along  our  pathway  in  them.  We  might  insti- 
tute examples  of  the  good  and  the  poor  student ;  of  the 
good  and  the  bad  youth  or  young  man ;  of  the  pure 
and  genial  influence  of  the  one  :  his  kindness  ;  his  re- 
spect ;  his  common  regard  for  the  rights  and  good  of  all ; 
and  the  corrupting  demoralization  and  generally  depress- 
ing influence  and  discouragement  attendant  on  the 
com'se  of  the  other.  But  this  I  need  not  do.  Enough 
already  in  these  directions  of  the  subject,  and  I  recollect 
that  you  are  here  but  for  a  time, — soon  to  go  forth  into 
the  world, — some  of  you  very  soon,  and  to  enter  into 
other  relations,  and  encounter  new  temptations  and 
trials,  and  under  far  other  circumstances  to  fight  the 
battle  of  life.  Oh  that  you  might  all  go  out  hence 
under  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  and  as  the  freed-men 
of  the  Lord  I  It  is  also  our  life's  future,  that  the  doc- 
trine of  social  responsibility  subtends,  and  it  is  that  future 
which  swells  the  value  of  it  here.  How  much  college- 
life  will  lay  its  progi'amme  and  indicate  its  filling  up. 


SOCIAL   RESPONSIBILITY.  281 

That  youth  made  bad,  through  your  example,  may  be 
undone  for  life  and  go  to  his  grave  a  wreck  and  an  out- 
cast. In  an  evil  hour  you  tempted  him  to  sin  ;  you  set 
before  him  the  lure  of  your  example  and  your  influence, 
and  he  yielded,  and  you  afterward  led  him  as  with  cart 
ropes,  and  rivited  him  as  with  chains,  to  the  Moloch  at 
whose  shrine  you  immolated  him.  "  Facilis  est  decensus 
averni."  Beware  of  the  influences  which  you  send  out 
in  that  direction.  Do  you  ask,  in  relief,  "Am  I  my 
brother's  keeper  ?"  Yes,  in  an  important  sense  you  are, 
and  God  will  hold  you  so  ;  and  then,  think  of  the  con- 
verse of  the  picture  here  drawn,  and  what  your  consist- 
ent Christian  walk  and  example  will  do.  Your  kindly 
efibrts ;  your  seasonable  counsel  and  entreaty ;  your 
faithful  love  and  prayer.  Oh,  it  may  be  like  the  pre- 
cious ointment  poured  upon  the  head  of  Aaron,  which 
ran  down  upon  his  beard  and  spread  over  all  his  gar- 
ments ;  or  like  the  dew  that  descended  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Zion,  where  the  Lord  commanded  His  blessing. 
And  I  do  not  forget  here,  that  there  is  another  life  than 
this,  and  I  would  have  all  these  pupils  prepared  against 
it.  I  would  have  them  enter  into  that  life,  and  be  com- 
panions of  the  good  and  the  blest  forever.  And  I 
think  how  much  this  spot  and  these  scenes  will  do  for 
that — these  associations;  these  companionships;  these 
bonds.  "  Verily,  if  a  man  sin  and  one  convert  him,  let 
him  know  that  he  which  converteth  the  sinner  from  the 
error  of  his  way  shall  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  shall 
hide  a  multitude  of  sins  ;"  and  who  would  not  be  saved 
through  such  kindly  agencies  and  instrumentalities,  and 
sweetly  swing  round  by  the  imperatives  of  his  own  will 


i82  SOCIAL  RBSPONSIBILITT. 

to  the  moorings  of  truth  and  right  and  God,  and  be 
won  over  to  the  embraces  of  Christian  love :  who  would 
be  left  out  from  such  a  communion,  and  be  exiled  from 
the  blessedness  of  such  fellowship  and  such  a  hope  ? 


THE   WAT   OF   SALVATION.  283 


III. 

TWO  DiscomsES. 


I. 

THE  WAY  OF  SALVATION. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  following  dis- 
course was  prepared,  throw  around  it  peculiar  interest. 
It  was  on  the  eve  of  the  writer's  departure  for  Europe, 
in  feeble  health,  and  with  the  impression  deeply  fixed 
in  his  mind  that  his  earthly  labors  for  Christ  were  ere 
long  to  come  to  an  end.  And  before  he  left  his  home 
he  desired  to  prepare  and  deliver,  what  seemed  to  him 
might  be  a  last  farewell  message,  to  the  congi*egation 
of  which  for  many  years  he  had  been  a  member,  in 
which  discourse  he  might  embody  all  that  he  deemed 
essential  to  be  known  and  practiced  for  the  attainment 
of  salvation.  It  is  here  introduced,  besides  the  dis- 
course that  follows,  not  only  for  the  solidity  and  value 
of  the  thoughts  which  it  contains,  but  also  as  a  speci- 
men of  the  productions  of  Dr.  Squier  in  the  character 
of  a  Preacher  of  the  Gospel. 


Acts  16:  30.     ''Sirs,  what  must  I  do,  to  be  saved f 
This  is  a  very  vital  question.     It  is  a  far  reaching 


284  THE   WAY   OP   SALVATION. 

inquiiy.  It  strikes  deep  into  the  elements  of  our  being 
and  our  hopes.  Its  scope  is  over  the  present  and  the 
future.  It  goes  to  the  adjustment  of  our  relations  to 
God  and  eternity.  The  salvation  it  involves  is  the  sal- 
vation of  the  soul : — a  salvation  from  sin,  and  death  and 
condemnation, — an  admission  in  to  the  perfection  and 
blessedness  of  the  heavenly  state,  and  a  home  and  a  rest 
there,  from  the  cares  and  toils  and  wrongs  and  wi'etched- 
ness  of  our  pilgrimage  here.  It  is  a  deliverance  from 
the  curse  of  the  law  due  to  sin, — from  the  penalty  of 
transgi-ession  and  the  doom  of  lost  spirits  in  despair. 

It  is  a  question  of  purification  from  the  defilements  of 
sin, — of  spiritual  cleansing  and  re-enstatement  into  the 
Divine  image,  in  which  man  was  created.  We  need 
help  and  healing.  We  would  be  cured  of  this  fearful 
blindness, — ^would  get  out  from  this  land  of  darkness, 
of  doom  and  desolation,  into  that  of  the  promises.  We 
would  come  into  the  right  relations  of  our  being,  and 
find  our  true  position  among  the  rational  intelligences 
which  God  has  made.  This  is  the  question  of  the  text 
and  of  the  hour.  How  can  we  be  reconciled  to  God, — 
have  the  burden  and  defilement  of  sin  removed, — con- 
science satisfied, — truth  vindicated, — law  and  right 
maintained,  and  we  be  recovered  to  the  place  and  por- 
tions of  children  of  God,  and  denizens  of  His  kingdom. 

It  is  also  comprehensive  in  its  range.  It  is  universal 
in  respect  to  apostate  man.  Every  one  is  interested  in 
it,  and  must  make  it,  and  practically  heed  its  sugges- 
tions,— must  personally  grapple  with  the  answer,  and 
find  in  a  cordial  compliance  with  it  the  life  of  his  soul. 

But  momentous  and  far  reaching  as  is  this  question, 


THE   WAY   OP   SALVATION.  285 

and  comprehensive  as  it  is  of  duty  and  destiny,  its  an- 
swer is  simple  and  obvious,  and  the  response  demanded 
is  of  the  nature  and  reasonableness  of  all  intelligence 
and  truth.  Bad  theology  may  have  emban-assed  it 
somewhat,  yet  it  properly  lies  among  the  plainest  les- 
sons of  experience  and  the  word  of  God. 

The  Apostle  summarily  answers,  "Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  &c.  This  may  be  looked  at  a  little  more 
particularly,  and  I  propose  then  to  notice  some  of  the 
points  of  this  inquiry  of  the  smitten  anxious  jailor  in 
the  text,  and  to  state  in  a  plain  way  what  one  must  do 
to  be  saved. 

1. — jp^e  must  repent  of  sin.  He  must  become  a  peni- 
tent man,  and  acknowledge  and  give  up  his  sin.  He 
must  break  down  first  and  here.  This  is  embraced  in 
the  foreground  of  all  true  reconciliation  with  God,  and 
is  vital  to  it.  Nothing  else  is  truly  done  without  this. 
When  one  has  done  wrong,  it  is  indispensable  that  he  be 
sorry  for  it  and  retrace  his  steps.  This  is  the  first  right 
thing  he  can  do.  It  is  so,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
and  in  view  of  all  truth.  While  he  fellowships  his 
wrong  no  terms  can  be  made  with  him,  and  no  progress 
in  the  work  of  reconciliation.  This  state  of  mind  for- 
bids it.  He  is  in  no  condition  to  be  forgiven.  For- 
giveness would  compromit  all  right  and  reason  and  au- 
thority and  law  and  moral  government ; — yea,  and  his 
own  conscience.  He  knows  that  he  is  in  the  wrong  till 
then,  and  is  maintaining  an  attitude  of  alienation  and 
resistance  to  rightful  authority  and  law ;  and  that  he  is 
in  an  unfit  state  to  be  pardoned  and  accepted.  His 
own  conscience  would  rebel, — his  own  innate  sense  of 


286  THE   WAY   OF   SALVATION. 

justice  and  right  would  hold  it  as  an  incongruity  and 
an  unworthiness.  He  not  only  cannot  have  remission 
without  repentance  but  he  cannot  take  it  without.  He 
knows  that  he  is  an  exotic  and  an  outlaw,  and  must  be, 
till  he  gives  up  and  breaks  down  right  here, — till  deep 
repentings  are  kindled  in  his  bosom,  and  in  view  of  the 
guilt  and  ruin  in  which  his  transgressions  have  involved 
him,  he  cries  out  "  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven, 
and  in  thy  sight." 

No  man  in  his  soul  is  an  advocate  for  sin,  or  who, 
from  the  very  elements  of  his  being,  is  not  ashamed  of 
it.  It  has  not  an  absolute  apologist  on  earth.  No 
thing  so  takes  the  courage  out  of  a  man  as  to  ^ee  that 
he  is  pursuing  a  wrong  course.  The  English  dramatist 
is  right,  when  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  his  hero  Ham- 
let (the  murderous  Macbeth)  the  words  "  'Tis  conscience 
does  make  cowards  of  all,"  and  says  again  "  Thrice  is  he 
armed,  who  hath  his  quarrel  jusC  Thus,  too,  the  voice 
of  inspsration,  "  The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth, 
but  the  righteous  are  bold  as  a  lion."  We  were  not 
made  for  wrong  action.  There  is  not  an  element  in 
our  constituent  being  that  will  apologize  for  it.  "The 
adulterer  waiteth  for  the  twilight,  saying  no  eye  shall 
see  me,  and  disguiseth  his  face."  Hence,  the  shifts  and 
disguises  and  crafts  of  sin, — the  crookedness  and  leger- 
demain of  those  in  transgi-ession.  No  man  is  the  same 
man  after  he  has  committed  a  crime,  and  no  one  can 
calculate  what  he  will  do  after,  as  he  could  before.  No, 
his  moral  nature  is  outraged  and  demoralized.  His 
course  and  his  conscience  are  out  of  harmony.  There 
is  a  war  in  his  own  bosom.     Truth  and  right  have  a 


THE   WAY   OF   SALVATION.  287 

correspondent  and  coadjutor  there  which  will  not  give 
up  the  citadel,  which  ever  and  anon  lashes  the  wrong- 
doer. There  is  inherently  no  relief,  except  by  repent- 
ance, for  a  single  sin.  One  sin  shuts  us  out  of  heaven 
and  dooms  the  soul  as  tinily  as  one  hundred,  or  a  life- 
time. Suffering  does  not  blot  out  sin, — penalty  does 
not.  It  does  not  at  the  forum  of  justice,  or  of  the  con- 
science. It  does  not  in  this  world  or  at  the  bar  of  God. 
One  wrong  ruins  a  character  among  men,  and  all  the 
more  from  the  elevation  on  which  it  stood  and  the  sanc- 
tity that  enshrined  it ; — one  theft, — one  robbery, — one 
murder, — one  misstep  in  female  virtue, — and  there  is  no 
recoveiy, — absolutely  no  recovery  but  through  conces- 
sion and  deep  and  bitter  repentance  with  tears,  and  not 
then  without  compensation.  Conscience  for  one  sin 
holds  the  rod  over  us  for  years, — for  a  lifetime, — forever. 
It  will  never  say,  it  is  enough — I  am  satisfied.  How  of- 
ten have  we  seen  or  felt  this,  so  far  as  human  experi- 
ence has  gone  or  been  reported  to  us,  or  can  be  in  this 
world:  and  how  many  have  dragged  out  a  miserable 
life  or  been  sent  to  untimely  graves,  by  the  gnawing  of 
a  remorse  that  they  could  not  escape  or  brave.  So  in- 
exorable is  law  and  truth  and  right, — that  conscience 
within, — that  moral  government  of  God  without. 

Repentance,  with  the  grace  of  God,  will  give  relief; 
and  it  is  all  the  relief  the  case  admits  of  This  does  not 
wipe  out  or  extinguish  the  sin,  or  make  it  out  that  it 
has  not  been  committed.  That  goes  to  the  records  of 
the  universe  and  into  the  personal  history.  But  this  is 
all  that  can  be  done  in  the  premises,  and  is  another 
method  of  attaining  the  ends  of  moral  government,  sue- 


288  THE   WAY    OP    SALVATION. 

cessf  ul,  and  glorious  on  the  failure  and  want  of  a  strictly 
legal  righteousness.  And  it  has  an  inherent  meetness 
and  effort  for  recovery.  It  is  of  the  normal  working 
of  the  intelligence.  It  gives  up  the  ground  of  sin.  It 
shows  our  sense  of  the  TVTong  and  the  guilt  of  trans- 
gression, and  repudiates  it.  It  is  essentially  a  right  af- 
fection. It  takes  the  part  of  law  and  ti'uth  and  God. 
It  says,  "Father,  I  have  sinned."  It  acknowledges  its 
wrong,  and  that  is  of  the  nature  of  right.  It  is  a  giv- 
ing up  of  hostility  and  the  conflict.  It  yields  the  strug- 
gle and  has  in  it  the  element  of  submission  and  obedi- 
ence. It  is  of  the  essence  of  true  virtue,  and  God  sees 
it  so,  and  respects  it  as  such,  and  makes  it  the  turning 
point  of  destiny  as  it  is  that  of  the  state  of  the  soul,  in 
its  personal  relations  to  Him  and  His  government.  And 
it  is  a  relief  to  conscience.  It  unburdens  the  moral  con- 
victions of  the  soul  and  reassures  it  with  the  confidence 
and  courage  which  attend  on  all  right  action.  It  is 
child-like  to  God  and  His  truth,  and  inspires  us  with 
the  feelings  and  sentiments  of  sonship.  It  breaks  down 
our  hearts,  but  it  breaks  down,  too,  the  partition  wall 
between  us  and  God.  It  is  a  state  of  mind  in  which  to 
receive  forgiveness  and  which  makes  forgiveness  con- 
sistent with  the  attributes  of  God.  In  it  we  cross  the 
line  between  the  enemies  and  the  friends  of  God.  We 
yield  the  controversy,  and  give  in  our  adhesion  to  God 
and  His  righteousness,  and  He  accepts  us.  It  is  the 
enacting  clause  of  redemption  from  sin  and  woe,  and 
contains  in  it  the  germ  and  earnest  of  eveiy  gi-ace. 
Without  it  we  are  aliens, — with  it  children  and  heirs. 
Before,  we  were  enemies  in  our  minds,  and  strangers  to 


THE   WAY    OF    SALVATION.  289 

the  covenant  of  jiromise,  now  reconciled,  filial  and  ac- 
cepted. Until  penitent,  we  are  iinregenerate, — when 
penitent,  then  generate, — before  in  a  state  of  unrecon- 
tiiliation  and  wrath, —  now  in  that  of  reconciliation,  ac- 
ceptance and  covenant  mercy ;  and  there  is  no  enigma 
in  this.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  a  universal  truth.  It  ob- 
tains in  the  state,  in  the  family,  in  the  conunerce  of  man 
with  man, — in  the  convictions  of  our  own  souls,  as  well 
as  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  "  He  that  hardeneth  his  neck 
shall  not  prosper,  but  whoso  confesseth  and  forsaketh 
his  sin  shall  find  mercy."  Hence,  the  gospel  is  styled 
the  gospel  of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sin.  John, 
the  harbinger  of  Jesus,  '-preached  the  baptism  of  re- 
pentance." And  Jesus  Himself  began  his  ministry  with 
the  words  "  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."  Thus,  too,  wiien  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  ful- 
ly come  and  the  disciples  were  all  with  one  accord  in 
one  place  and  the  multitudes  were  pricked  in  their  heart 
and  said  to  Peter  and  to  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  "  Men 
and  brethren,  what  sliall  we  do?"  Then  Peter  said  un- 
to them,  "  Repent  and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you, 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  for  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  Thus 
the  elemental  germ  of  reconciliation  to  God  is  in  re- 
pentance of  sin, — in  true  and  genuine  contrition  that 
we  have  transgressed  against  him, — and  in  deep  sorrow 
of  heart  before  him,  for  our  sins.  But  at  tliis  point  and 
in  this  state  of  mind  are  features  and  relations  not  yet, 
fully  considered.  And  to  one  asking  what  he  must  do 
to  be  saved,  our  niiswer  would  ])e  incomplete,  withou* 
stating — 

19  ' 


290  THE    WAY    OF    SALVATION. 

2d. — He  must  helieve  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  His 
heart  in  rejoeiitance  of  sin  must  go  over  to  the  days 
man  provided  for  him.  This  it  will,  whenever  Christ  is 
known  as  God's  anointed,  and  is  sent  for  deliverance 
and  salvation  to  those  lost  in  sin.  This  is  integral  in 
the  thought  and  the  matter  of  onr  repentance  and 
return  to  God.  It  is  confession  of  our  lost  estate  in  sin, 
our  destitution  and  helplessness  ;  that  we  have  no  right- 
eousness, and  must  and  do  accept  that  provided  in  the 
gospel-^do  look  to  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  sin, 
and  fall  in  with  the  terms  of  mercy,  which  he  has  made 
known.  This  is  but  the  counterpart  of  the  same  idea 
It  is  as  the  bone  to  the  socket,  or  the  rootlet  to  the  leaf; 
as  the  growth  of  nature  to  sunshine  and  showers.  •'  lie 
that  Cometh  unto  God,  must  believe  that  He  is.''  He 
will  confide  in  Him  and  His  way  of  saving  sinners. 
Without  a  righteousness  of  his  own,  he  will  cleave  to 
that  provided  for  him.  Fallen  under  law,  he  will  ac- 
cept thankfully  the  methods  of  grace.  He  will  see  him- 
self shut  up  to  the  faith — Jesus  the  onl}^  Saviour  his 
propitiation,  his  ransom,  his  life ;  and  believing  in  God, 
he  will  believe  in  Him.  He  will  shelter  himself  under 
the  rock  that  is  higher  than  he.  He  will  repent  of  sin 
:vnd  believe  in  Jesus  to  tlie  saving  of  his  soul.  He  will 
thus  meet  the  terms  of  mercy.  He  is  in  a  state  suitable 
for  forgiveness.  It  is  tit  noAV  that  God  should  be 
reconciled  to  Inm.  Faitli  in  Jesus  is  called  for  by  all 
the  relations  of  tlie  subject.  Tlie  sinner  has  no  other 
resort.  Confronted  ^vitli  rigliteous  law,  he  is  defense- 
less before  it.  Witliout  strength  in  himself,  he  seeks 
the  protection  of  grace      The  blood  of  Him  who  was 


THE    WAY    OF    SALVATION.  291 

slain  for  us,  an  oiFering  and  a  propitiation  for  sin.  is  his 
refuge  and  hiding  place.  He  pleads  His  merits,  seeks 
acceptance  in  His  name,  and  through  it  obtains  the 
pardon  of  sin  and  a  gracious  inheritance  among  them 
that  are  sanctified. 

3d. — But  in  this  attitude  of  the  penitent,  confiding 
sinner,  trusting  in  Jesusj  there  is  also  an  element  of 
mhmission  to  God.  This  is  integi'al  in  it — that  which 
makes  it  complete.  He  gives  up  himself  He  renounces 
his  own  righteousness- — he  acknowledges  his  ill-desert, 
and  sees  how  it  is  by  being  forgiven  that  he  is  accepted 
— by  reliance  on  the  grace  of  God  that  he  is  saved. 
The  sovereignty  and  sufficiency  of  God  is  present  to 
him  in  a  light  and  clearness  that  he  never  saw  before. 
The  claims  of  God — His  excellency,  His  goodness  and 
His  grace  overwhelm  his  soul,  and  he  sinks  at  his  feet. 
He  has  no  longer  a  heart  to  resist  God.  The  righteous- 
ness of  God  is  apprehended — His  supremacy  deferred 
to — His  authority  admitted,  and  His  will  obeyed.  In 
acknowledging  its  sin  and  ill  desert  and  accepting  the 
terms  of  mercy,  the  soul  submits  to  God,  and  enters 
into  the  relations  of  Sonship.  It  takes  the  place  of  a 
child.  It  has  the  acquiescence  and  cordial  sympathies 
of  a  child,  and  cries — "  Abba  Father."  This  is  the 
normal  relation  and  attitude  of  all  derived  intelligence 
toward  God.  It  was  created  by  Him  and  in  His  image 
and  for  His  worship  and  service.  And  the  sinner  in 
repenting  and  getting  on  Gospel  ground,  only  recovers 
himself  from  his  abnormal,  apostate  state,  and  passes 
into  the  right  relations  of  his  being  again  and  begins 
the  work  of  recovery  and  restoration  to  God.     He  is 


292  THE    WAY    OF    SALVATION. 

renewed  in  the  spirit  of  his  mind.  In  his  soul  he  is 
regenerated.  He  has  come  back  to  God.  He  is  trans- 
lated from  the  empire  of  darkness  to  that  of  God's  dear 
Son  ;  from  that  of  rebellion  and  impenitency  and  hos- 
tility to  God,  to  that  of  cordial  surrender,  affiance  and 
Sonship  ;  and  he  can  now  be  admitted,  and  is  so,  to  the 
privilege  of  Sonship,  and  becomes  a  fellow  citizen  with 
the  saints  and  of  the  household  of  God.     And  here — 

4th. — We  record  the  element  of  love  to  God.  This  is 
integi-ally  of  (this  is  that  which  completes)  the  affection 
and  attitude  and  state  of  the  sinner,  which  we  have 
been  describing.  This  will  characterize  his  return  to 
God  from  the  error  of  his  ways.  He  will  be  affected 
not  only  by  the  inherent  excellency  and  claims  of  God, 
but  by  His  condescension  and  goodness  and  grace  in  the 
Gospel.  Such  love  and  mercy;  such  bending  in  com- 
passion over  his  necessities  and  his  sins  ;  such  reaching 
down  from  the  habitation  of  His  holiness,  for  the  re- 
covery of  one  so  lost  in  sin  and  so  without  help  in  him- 
self. O,  was  there  ever  love  like  this  !  And  it  begets 
love.  It  subsidizes  the  affections  of  the  soul  for  God. 
The  smitten,  subdued  and  reconciled  spirit  sees  its 
indebtedness,  and  in  filial  gratitude  and  praise  exclaims, 
"  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee,  and  there  is  none 
on  the  earth  that  I  desire  in  comparison  with  tliee  !" 
••  Love  is  of  God,  and  he  that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  for 
God  is  love."  This  is  the  right  ongoing  of  all  intelli- 
gence. Why  should  we  not  love  God,  and  all  the  more 
that  we  have  had  much  forgiven  ;  that  we  are  taken  out 
of  the  abyss  of  our  sins  and  miseries,  and  have  our  feet 
planted  on   a  rock,  and  this  song  of  redem})tion  and 


THE    WAY    OF    SALVATION.  298 

grace  put  in  our  mouths,  as  Watts  well  expresses  it  in 
the  familiar  lines : — 

"Since  from  His  bounty  I  receive 

Such  proofs  of  love  divine ; 
Had  I  a  thousand  hearts  to  give, 
Lord,  they  should  all  be  thine." 

And  then,  Finally. — Tic  mu,^t  live  a  ueic  life.  He  will 
<\o  this.  It  is  no  more  than  the  legitimate  correlate  and 
offshoot  of  his  state  of  mind.  As  well  separate  the 
trunk  from  the  root,  or  cause  and  effect,  or  principles 
and  purposes  in  the  heart  from  the  action  that  grows 
out  of  them,  as  deny  it.  It  is  as  the  stream  to  the 
fountain  that  feeds  it,  the  ocean  to  the  rivers  that  flow 
into  it,  or  the  fiice  of  nature  to  that  benignant  sun  that 
radiates,  and  warms  and  quickens  it.  The  plants  of 
grace  will  grow  in  a  gracious  heart.  The  fruits  of  holi- 
ness will  appear.  "  He  that  loves  God  will  love  his 
brother  also."  There  is  unity  and  consent  in  all  truth. 
"  How  shall  ho  that  is  dead  to  sin,  live  any  longer 
therein  ?"  A  man  that  is  converted  to  God,  will  live  a 
godly  life ;  he  will  bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repent- 
ance, and  out  of  a  good  conversation  and  citizenship 
among  men,  will  show  forth  on  every  hand  the  inward 
and  concurrent  workings  of  that  new  life  which  is  be- 
gotten in  his  soul,  and  which  in  the  Bible  sense  and  as 
the  proper  characteristic  of  his  life,  makes  it  true  of  him 
"that  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is  born  of  God." 

These,  then,  being  the  suggestions  to  be  made,  and 
the  elements  to  be  recognized  in  response  to  the  ques- 
tion— "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  it  is  manifest,  in 
conclusion,  that  the  ansiver  is  just  what  it  must  and  should 


294  THE   AVAY   OP   SALVATION. 

he.  It  could  not  be  anything  else,  and  is  altogether 
reasonable  and  accountable  as  it  is.  How  could  one  be 
forgiven  and  accepted,  while  in  his  irrepentance  and 
alienation  from  God,  or  without  acknowledgement  of 
the  mercy  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ?  It  would  outrage  all 
the  relations  of  the  subject^  and  reduce  the  fundamental 
principles  of  moral  government  to  chaos.  We  see  how 
essential  and  intelligent,  then,  are  the  terms  and  the 
process  from  nature  to  grace — from  being  without  God, 
and  without  hope,  to  possessing  "'  the  everlasting  con- 
solation and  good  hope  through  grace" — from  being  a 
child  of  wrath,  to  being  a  child  of  God — from  lying  out 
under  condemnation,  and  in  the  circumcision  of  the 
flesh  and  the  spirit,  to  being  adopted  into  the  family 
of  God,  and  becoming  an  heir  of  all  the  promises  which 
are  yea  and  amen  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Again  : — We  see  hoiv  easy  and  natural  the  terms  of  life. 
No  dark  enigmas ;  no  insoluble  mysteries ;  no  unap- 
preciable  intricacies  of  method  or  requirement.  They 
take  the  reason  and  the  conscience  along  with  them, 
and  oblige  us  to  say  in  all  honesty  of  heart,  all  this  is 
just  as  it  should  be.  Our  own  sense  of  the  right  and 
the  good  and  the  true,  would  not  allow  us  to  change 
them  in  a  single  particular. 

Well,  then,  we  have  the  verdict  of  every  conscien- 
tious conviction — the  approval  of  every  principle  of  rea- 
son and  truth ;  shall  we  have  the  spontaneous  and  free 
determinations  of  the  will  ?  The  question  goes  to  the 
arbitrament  of  our  voluntary  nature,  and  it  is  one  of  life 
or  death — the  life  or  death  of  the  soul.  Will  we  meet  . 
its  terras  ?     The  word  is  nigh  thee,  in  thy  mo^ith  and  in 


THE   WAT   OF   SALVATION.  296 

thy  heart,  even  the  word  of  faith  which  we  preach. 
"  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve."  Existence 
need  not  be  a  failure  and  a  curse  :  it  may  and  should  be 
a  perennial,  an  everlasting  blessing,  an  endless  rever- 
sion of  good.  "  The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say  come,  and 
let  him  that  heareth  say  come,  and  whosoever  will,  let 
him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely."  Yes,  let  us  all 
come — room  enough  in  our  Father's  house  and  in  our 
Father's  heart.  '•  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock." 
It  is  at  the  door  of  our  hearts  that  Jesus  stands  and 
knocks,  with  all  the  promises  and  salvation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  we  shall  let  Him  in?  and  find  through  him 
reconciliation,  pardou,  peace  and  eternal  life  ?  Forever 
blessed  all  who  thus  do.     Amen.  ^^ 


296  GOD   IS   LIGHT. 


II. 

GOD  IS  LIGHT. 

1  John,  1:  5. — "This,  then,  is  the  message  which  we 
have  heard  of  him  and  declare  unto  you,  that  God  is 
light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  aU." 

This  seems  to  be  a  very  comjH'ehensive  passage.  It 
may  be  regarded  as  the  resultant  summaiy  of  what  the 
apostle  had  learned  of  God  from  the  life  and  teachings 
of  Jesus  and  the  communications  of  the  gospel,  and  was 
commissioned  to  declare  to  others.  The  sentiment  is 
repeated  with  emphasis  and  denial  of  its  opposite.  "  God 
is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all", — and  there 
is  instruction  and  comfort  and  encouragement  in  this 
truth,  and  in  this  inspired  announcement  of  it.  We 
need  the  assurance  and  the  consolation  here  given  in  a 
world  like  this,  and  with  a  being  like  ours.  We  need 
first  principles;  undeviating  elements  of  knowledge: 
sure  and  appreciable  land-marks  from  which  to  make 
our  offsets  and  calculate  our  distance ;  the  pole-stai*  in 
the  heavens  to  guide  us  in  the  voyage  of  existence ; 
steady  and  true  and  reliable  there,  in  the  midst  of  the 
tempests  and  billows  that  buffet  us  here.  Especially  do 
we  need  to  know  what  God  is,  and  from  our  anchorage 
there,  gain  correction  and  assurance  respecting  all  things 
else.     Come,  then,  with  me  to  this  first  truth^of  reason 


GOD   IS   LIGHT.  297 

and  tlie  Bible,  and  let  us  dwell  a  little  upon  it  and 
gather  up  some  of  the  lessons  it  furnishes : — 

God  is  light.  1st. — He  is  so  in  His  heing, — and  this  in 
two  respects, — 1st,  as  to  the  reality  and  nature  of  it,  and 
2ndly,  as  to  the  appreciahleness  of  it.  Nothing  else  is  so 
evident  to  us  as  the  existence  of  God ;  nothing  so  full 
of  manifestation, — so  self-evident, — so  intuitively  seen. 
It  comes  like  sight  to  the  eye,  or  hearing  to  the  ear,  or 
fragrance  and  taste  to  the  senses  that  give  them. 

If  anything  is,  God  is,  and  something  is,  by  the  tes- 
timony of  consciousness  and  the  senses.  We  are, — 
this  magnificent  universe,  too, — and  whence  and  how 
came  it  ?  It  is  dependent,  and  derived.  It  is  a  thing, 
an  effect.  It  is  here  because  it  was  put  here.  But  how 
do  you  get  the  dependent,  the  derived,  the  created,  with- 
out the  independent,  the  underived,  the  uncreated  and 
eternal?  You  must  have  God,  in  order  to  have  any- 
thing else.  An  atom  shows  it  as  complete  as  a  universe. 
We  may  not  fully  comprehend  God,  but  we  may  com- 
prehend the  truth  that  He  is,  and  comprehend  it  per- 
fectly that  it  can  but  be  that  He  is,  and  that  to  suppose 
the  contrary  is  the  veriest  absurdity. 

Thus,  too,  the  nature  of  his  being.  Underived  exis- 
tence must  be  perfect.  This  is  the  normal  original  state 
of  all  intelligence, — of  all  mind.  Sin  is  by  apostasy 
from  right.  It  is  the  original  state  of  nothing.  It  is  a 
breaking  away  from  righteousness, — a  transgi'ession  of 
law,  and  supposes  it  and  its  previous  existence  and  bind- 
ing force  and  righteous  authority,  and  a  lawgiver  who 
is  good  and  has  rightful  jurisdiction  and  a  perfect  law, — 
in  a  word,  that  God  is  in  all  the  perfection  of  His  being 


298  GOD    IS    LIGHT. 

and  glory  of  His  attributes,  and  sovereignty  of  His  sway, 
as  "  God  over  all  blessed  forever."  Reason  apjjrehends 
this,  and  that  nothing  else  can  be  in  its  place,  and  noth- 
ing go  back  of  it  or  be  more  ultimate.  This  is  a  first 
truth  in  the  clearness  and  perfectness  of  it.  It  is  im- 
plied in  all  truth  else,  and  is  the  the  beginning  of  all 
truth  and  the  basis  of  it.  So  obviously  and  necessarily 
is  it  the  dictate  of  the  intelligence,  that  we  scarcely  need 
Revelation  to  come  to  its  aid.  Hence,  the  Bible  never 
stops  to  prove  the  existence  and  perfection  of  God.  It 
assumes  them,  as  already  kno\vn  to  reason,  and  begins 
with  declaring  what  He  did.  "In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  Heavens  and  the  earth."  The  Bible  recog- 
nizes the  being  and  perfections  of  God  and  makes  its 
full  economy  of  instructions  on  the  basis  of  them  and 
in  recognition  of,  and  coincidence  with  them.  It  comes 
from  the  depths  of  infinite  intelligence  and  reason,  to 
the  reason  given  us  for  its  information  and  benefit,  and 
being  "by  inspiration  of  God,  is  profitable  for  doctrine 
and  correction  and  instruction  in  righteousness,  that  the 
man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  to  all 
good  works." 

2d. — God  is  light  in  His  jmiyoses.  They  are  like  Him- 
self, the  emanation  of  one  who  is  holy  and  just  and  good. 
In  spirit  and  in  method  they  are  perfect.  God's  ways 
and  thoughts  are  like  Himself.  A  perfect  righteousness 
is  the  method  and  compass  of  Deity, — a  perfect  and 
happy  universe  the  great  aim  and  end  of  God.  No  ques- 
tionable expedients, — no  dark  enigmas, — no  subtle  pol- 
icy,— no  connivance  with  \vi'ong,  and  no  consent  to  it, 
or  permission  of  it,  harbor  in  the  mind  of  God.     He 


GOD   IS   LIGHT.  299 

will  not  do  evil  that  good  may  come.  He  sustains  but 
antagonistical  relations  to  sin.  It  is  wholly  outside  of 
a  divine  economy.  To  prevent,  to  remedy,  and  to  pun- 
ish it,  is  the  whole  mind  of  God  concerning  it.  We 
may  not  give  it  theistic  relations,  as  if  it  was  in  any 
sense  of  God.  His  mind  and  purpose  are  all  against  it, 
and  for  its  prevention,  discomfiture  and  overthrow.  It 
is  only  disobedience  to  God, — a  revolt  and  rebellion 
''against  Him,  which  He  is  taking  the  best  methods  in 
infinite  wisdom  to  put  down,  and  to  recover  the  uni- 
verse from  the  blight  and  curse  of.  It  is  wholly  coun- 
ter to  His  great  end  and  purpose  in  all  things,  and 
which  in  the  methods  of  probation  and  retribution, — of 
grace  and  justice,  He  will  subdue  and  control,  and  even 
bring  instruction  and  good  out  of  it  in  the  end. 

We  wrong  God  and  our  conceptions  of  Him  when  we 
put  Him  into  strategic  complications  and  correlations 
mth  sin.  That  is  simply  an  aberration  in  finite  cause 
against  His  will  and  way  in  all  things.  The  mind  and 
purpose  of  God  are  a  transparent  holiness  and  perfec- 
tion in  all  righteousness  and  goodness  and  truth ;  His 
will  and  end  is  the  sanctification  of  mind,  and  a  holy 
and  happy  universe  in  His  love  and  likeness. 

3d. — He  is  light  in  ^is  works.  They  grow  out  of  the 
perfection  of  His  being  and  are  the  transcript  of  it. 
They  are  the  oft'spring  of  His  purposes,  and  like  them. 
"  He  has  created  all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power, 
and  for  His  pleasure  they  are  and  were  created."  This 
could  but  be  so  ;  any  being  will  work  like  Himself.  The 
chai'acteristics  of  His  mind  will  show  themselves  in  what 
He  does.     Thus,   God  is  known  in  and  through  His 


300  GOD    IS   LIGHT. 

works.  Is  He  perfect,  so  each,  in  its  kind,  are  they. 
Hence,  creation  is  a  perfect  work.  It  is  so  in  every 
part, — in  the  minutest  as  well  as  in  the  grandest  and 
most  imposing  features  of  it.  'No  work  of  art  improves 
on  the  principles  of  vision  which  the  eye  presents.  The 
insect's  wing,  the  mole  and  the  bat  are  made  with  as 
much  care  and  as  perfect  an  adaptation  to  their  sphere 
of  being,  as  the  sun  or  the  stars. 

And  so  is  it  in  the  moral  sphere.  Man  was  made  in 
the  image  of  God.  "In  the  image  of  God  created  He 
him."  And  what  could  be  better?  Here  is  the  essen- 
tial perfection  of  God  brought  forth  in  the  finite,  as  in 
the  case  of  angels  before.  God  is  a  person,  with  all  the 
attributes  of  a  righteous  and  holy  personal  intelligence ; 
so  in  their  measure  are  finite  intelligences.  They  are 
made  to  apprehend  and  know  God, — to  understand  and 
love  Him, — and  have  personal  qualities  and  experience 
like  Him,  with  the  high  behests  of  free  will  and  moral 
responsibility. 

True,  this  involves  the  responsibility  of  wrong  choice 
and  apostasy  from  God.  But  in  this  free  election  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  is  seen  the  virtue  of  right  choice, 
and  the  excellency  and  glory  of  a  moral  system.  What 
would  a  moral  government  be  over  mere  machines? 
What  would  become  of  all  moral  distinctions,  if  the 
power  of  contrary  choice  was  taken  away?  Where 
would  be  the  doctrine  of  praise  and  blame, — of  good  or 
ill  desert, — or  conduct  and  character  and  destiny;  or 
where  the  place  of  law  or  counsels  or  instruction,  or  the 
first  motions  of  the  intelligence  in  the  conscience,  or  of 
moral  truth  at  all,  or  anything  above  merely  physical 


GOD   IS    LIGHT.  301 

and  sentient  existence  ?  And  then,  indeed,  why  have 
even  that  ?  The  body  is  for  the  sake  of  the  soul, — na- 
tiu-e  for  the  supernatural.  Merely  physical  being  has 
no  correspondence  with,  no  recognition  of  God;  no 
communion  or  fellowship,  no  appreciation  or  worship, 
no  responsibility.  It  is  a  mere  thing, — perfect  in  its 
way,  but  the  bare  scaffolding  of  the  building.  The 
crowning  work  is  the  formation  of  mind,  personal  beings, 
an  intellectual,  moral  universe  in  the  image  and  after  the 
likeness  of  God ;  and  this  of  necessity  implies  personal 
free-will,  and  it  could  not  and  should  not  be  otherwise, 
and  you  inevitably  have  the  possibility,  yea,  even  the 
liability  of  wrong.  But  this  liability  does  not  mar  the 
perfection  of  a  moral  system.  It  is  the  necessary  meth- 
od and  touchstone  of  it.  It  gives  the  occasion  and  the 
agreement  of  law,  and  the  scope  of  instruction,  precept 
and  promise.  It  is  our  monitor,  our  tuition,  our  culture. 
It  brings  out  the  heart  of  God  to  us,  and  ours  to  Him, 
and  by  the  pos8il)ility  of  wrong,  lifts  its  note  of  warning 
against  it. 

There  is  no  argument  for  wrong,  no  occasion,  no  need 
of  it.  No  one  need  to  sin,  or  is  ever  placed  where  he 
cannot  do  right,  and  ought  not.  Intelligence  was  made 
for  right  action,  though  inherently  and  necessarily  cap- 
able of  its  alternative.  No  man  should  hate  God  or  his 
neighbor.  Wrong  is  ever  an  argument  for  right.  Sin 
is  ever  a  critic  on  itself.  Conscience  is  a  swift  witness 
against  it,  and  in  harmony  with  God  and  truth  for  all 
righteousness. 

4th. — God  is  light  in  Ilis  word.  It  is  a  revelation  to 
us — a  manifestation  of  Himself  still  more  express  and 


302  GOD    IS   iJGHT. 

definite  and  adapted  to  our  moral  state  now,  than  are 
the  works  of  creation.  "  Thy  word  is  veiy  pure,  there- 
fore Thy  servant  loveth  it."  Its  design  is  to  reveal 
God  in  His  intentions  and  purposes  more  fully,  and  give 
us  light.  It  is  light  in  our  path  and  a  lamp  to  our  feet, 
and  we  are  to  go  to  it  as  to  "  a  light  that  shineth  in  a 
dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,"  &c.  This  is  the  aim 
of  its  comfhunications — its  doctrines ;  its  precepts ;  its 
requirements.  There  is  no  effort  at  the  concealment 
of  truth  in  the  word  of  God.  It  is  all  over  luminous 
with  divine  instruction  for  our  use  and  benefit.  Its 
ministers  are  sent  forth  "to  teach  all  nations,"  and 
bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  Christ.  He  is  "  the  light  of  the  world,''  and  His 
gospel  is  commissioned  to  *"  enlighten  every  man  that 
Cometh  into  the  world." 

5th. — God  is  light  in  His  great  end  in  all  things,  and  in 
His  way  of  attaining  it.  It  is  like  Him  and  worthy 
of  Him,  and  it  is  seen  in  His  law  and  in  His  gospel,  and 
in  all  that  He  has  said  and  done.  It  is  a  holy,  happy 
universe,  under  the  administration  of  a  perfect,  moral 
government.  This  is  God's  great  end,  and  this  is  God- 
like and  God's  way,  and  this  is  all  there  is  belonging  to 
His  way.  God's  method  is  a  perfect  righteousness,  and 
so  is  his  end,  with  the  results  it  guarantees.  God  does 
good,  because  it  is  good,  and  because  He  loves  to.  He 
is  benevolent,  for  that  is  His  nature.  His  heart  goes 
out  in  all  right  action,  because  it  is  right  and  just  and 
good  and  blessed  so  to  do.  The  full  heart  of  the  entire 
Deity  is  right  here,  and  He  has  done  nothing  to  darken 
counsel  in  the  matter,  and  we  need  not.     Tliere  is  a 


GOD    IS    LKUIT,  303 

transparency  and  a  clear  looking  into  the  very  heart  of 
God  here,  that  is  in  no  other  being.  We  know  where 
he  is.  We  can  appreciate  His  methods  and  ways,  as  we 
can  those  of  no  one  else.  We  know  that  He  will  do 
right,  and  that  a  perfect  righteousness  enspheres  the 
Deity  in  all  His  thoughts  and  works  and  ways.  In  re- 
spect to  others,  we  may  be  afloat  and  adrift,  but  we  are 
anchored  fast  here.  We  do  know  that  He  is  ever  true 
to  the  principles  of  all  righteousness,  in  the  administra- 
tion of  a  perfect,  moral  government,  over  the  intelligent 
universe,  both  under  law  and  grace.  "  He  is  light,  and 
in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all."     And  if  so,  then — 

1st. —  We  should  appreciate  and  understand  Him.  We 
should  come  to  the  light  and  welcome  its  consistent 
shining.  The  being  and  perfections  of  God  are  a  first 
truth  in  reason  and  before  the  mind.  We  may  know 
just  where  He  is  on  every  moral  question.  No  dark 
enigmas  lurk  in  His  character,  and  no  complicity  Tvdth 
wrong.  If  sin  occur,  it  will  be  in  abuse  of  moral  gov- 
ernment, and  against  His  prohibition  and  His  will.  He 
has  no  stragetic  relations  to  it  but  to  counteract  and 
overcome  it ;  and  admonish  the  universe  in  view  of  it. 
It  is  not  His  way  in  any  respect.  Its  wrong  and  mis- 
chief are  no  part  of  His  method,  and  He  is  by  all  the 
prerogatives  of  the  Infinite,  putting  it  down  in  the  best 
time  and  way,  and  bringing  it  into  merited  condemna- 
tion and  reproach.  A  holy  and  right-minded  universe, 
as  He  created  it,  is  His  way.  All  His  methods  are  like 
Himself.  No  contravention  of  first  principles,  or  adop- 
tion of  the  maxim  that  the  end  sanctifies  the  means. 
We  may  throw  all  this  overboard,  and  retain  our  unem- 


•504  GOD   IS    JvIGHT. 

barrassed  and  unalloyed  conceptions  of  the  perfect 
rectitude  and  integrity  of  God.  All  His  relations  to 
wrong  are  right,  and  He  is  infinitely  happy  in  these  re- 
lations, and  is  bringing  out  infinite  glory  on  all  right- 
eousness in  the  progressive  and  utter  discomfiture  of  sin. 
as  the  end  will  show.  If  rebellion  is  possible,  it  may  be 
a  failure,  too,  and  notwithstanding,  and  bring  down 
merited  rebuke  and  condemnation  on  those  engaged  in 
it,  while  the  methods  of  redemption  show  the  heart  of 
God  respecting  it,  and  while  all  heaven  will  ring  with 
shouts  of  praise  to  Him  for  the  energies  and  success 
of  His  recovering  grace. 

2. — Oui'  theology  ought  to  he  intuitively  clear  in  its 
statements.  God  is  light.  We  know  what  He  is,  and 
where  He  is  and  what  He  will  do  and  what  He  will  not 
do.  A  perfect  character  is  before  us.  He  will  do,  and 
be  in  His  relations  to  us,  only  what  is  good  and  just 
and  right.  Our  philosophy  of  truth  respecting  Him 
should  not  be  embarrassed  and  paradoxical.  Our  ab- 
stracts of  faith  ought  not  to  be  difficult  of  apprehension, 
and  contravene,  or  seem  to  contravene,  the  first  princi- 
ples of  morals  or  the  intuitive  convictions  of  the  mind. 
We  should  not  make  God  the  author  of  sin  in  any 
sense,  either  strategetically  or  decretively,  or  as  on  tlie 
whole  preferring  it,  or  as  any  way  correlated  with  it, 
except  as  its  uncompromising  antagonist  and  determined 
foe.  It  does  not  follow  because  sin  is,  tliat  God  in  any 
way  wills  it,  or  that  He  is  not  doing  all  that  belongs  to 
Him  as  God  to  prevent  and  overcome  it ;  and  to  glorify 
all  righteousness  out  of  this  miserable  apostacy  and 
wrong.     What  has  he  not  done  to  this  end  in  making 


GOT)   IS   LIGHT.  305 

jiian  holy  at  first — in  giving  him  a  conscience  and  a  law 
of  right  prohibiting  sin — cursing  it  in  His  word  and 
providence.  What  in  redemption  and  retribution  ? 
Sin  is  an  outbreak  from  God,  and  is  here  without  any- 
such  relation  to  it,  on  his  part,  as  the  decreeing  of  it 
implies,  and  we  should  let  nothing  bring  a  mist  over  our 
minds  at  this  point.  We  should  absolve  ourselves  from 
all  this.  There  is  a  more  excellent  way.  There  is  a 
better  analysis  of  truth — one  that  fairly  and  frankly, 
and  without  mincing  or  misgiving  or  compromise,  and 
in  plain  common  sense,  keeps  God  in  the  right,  by  all 
the  laws  of  truth  and  'morality.  If  sin  is  inherently 
possible  under  a  perfectly  moral  government  and  as  an 
abuse  of  it,  let  it  not  be  accounted  a  Divine  strategy  or 
expedient  or  by  ordination  and  the  pui-pose  of  God,  but 
every  way  against  His  mind  and  in  contravention  of  His 
will.  We  ought  to  clear  the  highway  of  truth  and 
of  the  ransomed  from  all  these  dialectics  of  the  schools, 
and  let  the  character  of  God  shine  out  in  its  trans- 
parency and  perfectness  in  our  formulas  of  thought, 
Avithout  let,  stint  or  hindrance,  as  elsewhere,  it  shines  in 
all  His  works. 

3d. — If  God  is  light,  then  the  more  we  know  of  God, 
the  more  we  shall  appreciate  Him.  We  shall  study  His 
character  and  perfections  with  increasing  interest  and 
satisfaction.  Mists  \nll  clear  up,  snags  will  give  way, 
difficulties  fall  back,  and  we  shall  see  tliat  they  belong 
not  to  Him  or  to  the  legitimate  consideration  of  His 
works  and  ways. 

4th. — 'If  God  is  light,  then  to  sdlk  to  know  Him  and 
to  know  Him  more  perfectly,  is  no  anomoly  and  no  dis- 
20 


306  GOD    IS   LIGHT. 

credit  to  us.  We  were  made  to  know  God  and  under 
stand  Him.  Formed  in  His  image,  to  api^rehend  His 
being  and  character  is  a  first  truth  of  reason,  infallible 
in  clearness  and  perfection.  I  am  as  certain  of  the  ex- 
istence and  perfections  of  God,  as  of  my  own  conscious 
existence  and  dependence  on  Kim.  And  I  would  study- 
ever  to  know  more  of  Him,  and  drink  into  His  own 
divine  fullness,  from  gioiy  to  glory. 

Again  : — The  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  (^od  will 
be  the  delightful  study  of  eternity.  We  shall  know 
Him  as  He  is  ;  we  shall  look  into  the  face  of  God  and 
all  w^ll  be  light.  The  days  of  darkness  and  mystery 
will  be  passed — the  difficulties  will  be  cleared  up,  and 
be  seen  not  to  belong  to  Him.  We  shall  intuitively 
justify  His  relations  to  wrong,  and  see  how  much  it  was 
the  adversary's  plan  to  darken  counsel  here.  That  cloud- 
less sky  will  reflect  His  perfect  likeness,  and  we  shall 
behold  it,  in  all  His  works  and  ways,  with  increasing- 
rapture  and  delight  through  eternity. 

Finally : — If  God  is  light,  then  will  he  be  a  swift  Avit- 
ness  against  all  works  and  workers  of  darkness.  There 
is  no  place  where  those  Avho  work  iniquity  can  hide 
themselves  from  Him.  Let  us  escape  from  every  refuge 
of  lies — flee  unto  Him  who  is  the  refuge  from  the 
storm,  and  the  covert  from  the  tempest,  to  Jesus  while 
it  is  to-day.  And  now,  my  friends,  there  is  a  practical 
side  to  this  subject.  These  two  kingdoms  are  before 
you  and  will  go  on  into  the  future.  The  struggle  be- 
tween them  will  mainly  characterize  that  which  is  to 
be.  Christ  is  yet  t#be  the  gi'eat  idea  of  humanity,  and 
to  come  in  for  the  conquest  of  the  world  to  truth  and 


GOD    IS    LIGHT.  307 

holiness.  Shall  we  yield  to  or  resist  Him — be  His,  or 
not  ?  Here  lies  a  personal  obligation  and  prerogative. 
Will  we  break  down  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  and  come 
to  Him.  or  stay  away  ?  We  can  do  either.  We  can 
have  our  choice.  We  must  have  it.  All  the  light 
and  influences  belonging  to  the  subject,  may  beam 
benignly  on  our  pathway ;  and  all  the  prerogatives 
of  the  Infinite  be  kindly  enlisted  in  our  behalf,  and 
yet  we  only  resist  and  grieve  the  Holy  Ghost.  And 
this  kingdom  of  Jesus — of  peace  and  salvation,  will 
have  to  move  on  to  the  empire  of  the  world  without  us, 
and  leave  us  behind  with  the  miserable  remnants  of 
earth's  population,  that  must  fall  at  length  under  the 
wheel  of  a  righteous  retribution,  and  sink  to  unmiti- 
gated and  everlasting  shame  and  contempt 

I  said  the  alternative  is  ours.  It  is ;  and  let  us  be 
equal  to  it,  on  a  responsibility  which  eternal  ages  alone 
can  interpret. 


308  EVIL    AND    GOD. 


ES8AY8  AND  EEVIEWS. 


I. 

THE  MYSTERY ;  OR,  EVIL  AND  GOD.    NO.  I. 

It  is  interesting,  as  well  as  hopeful  to  the  cause  of 
moral  science,  to  observe  how  steadily  and  surely  the 
inquiry  is  coming  up  concerning  the  origin  of  moral 
evil  and  the  relations  of  God  thereto.  Since  the  publi- 
cation of  the  "Problem  Solved;  or,  Sin  not  of  God," 
in  this  country,  two  elaborate  works  have  been  published 
in  Scotland  alone,  hinging  on  this  subject,  and  taking 
substantially  the  view  of  it,  which  that  work  did.  Dr. 
Tullock,  in  his  Tlieisrn,  one  of  the  Burnett  prizes,  and  re- 
published by  the  Carters  here,  (a  very  good  quarter  by 
the  way,)  was  the  first  in  order.  The  whole  subject  of 
Dr.  T.  led  him  over  a  wider  range  of  thought  than  is 
here  referred  to,  but  he  sums  up  all  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  a  consistent  and  appreciable  Theism,  in  the 
fact  of  the  existence  of  sin,  and  boldly  and  triumphantiy 
marches  to  his  conclusion,  that  sin  and  wrong  are  no 
part  of  the  Divine- economy — that  they  are  not  to  be  re- 
solved in  a  tlieistic  argument,  that  they  lie  outside  of  it, 
but  are,  and  nnist  logically  as  he  in  effect  says,  be  re- 


EVIL  AND   GOD.  309 

lated  to  God,  and  his  government  as  rebellion  is  to  the 
strategy,  design  and  head  of  a  state.  In  a  word,  that 
sill  is  in  no  sense  of  God,  and  that  He  does,  and  can 
sustain  only  antagonistic  relations  to  it,  and  that  this  is 
the  dictate  of  reason,  logic  and  conscience,  as  well  as  of 
the  Bible.  This  surely  is  the  very  spot  to  break  ground 
for  the  Scotch  mind,  and  is  inherently  a  good  beginning 
on  the  whole  subject.  It  rolls  away  mountains  of  difR- 
cultyi  and  gives  a  simple  significant  issue.  It  was,  more- 
over, the  point  mainly  adjudicated  in  the  "  Problem 
Solved,''  under  the  conviction  that  if  this  was  rightly 
apprehended,  the  rest  would  come  easily  and  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  and  we  are  quite  happy  to  see  Dr.  Tul- 
lock's  views  on  this  head  so  fully  quoted,  if  not  en- 
dorsed by  the  Bihliotheca  Sacra,  in  its  notice  of  his  work, 
about  one  year  since. 

The  other  work  referred  to,  and  whose  title  stands  at 
the  head  of  this  article,  is  by  Dr.  Young,  (L.  L.  D.,)  of 
Edinburgh,  so  widely  known  as  the  author  of  ^^  The 
Christ  of  History,''  and  reprinted  also  in  this  country  by 
the  Carters.  This  last  work  of  Dr.  Young  is  repub- 
lished on  this  side  of  the  water,  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  & 
Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  and  is  eveiy  way  a  readable  book. 
It  is  more  elaborate  and  exhaustive  of  its  subject,  than 
that  of  Dr.  Tullock.  It  is  confined  to  the  consideration 
of  the  great  problem  of  evil,  and  its  relations  to  the  be- 
ing and  character  of  God.  The  main,  prominent  prin- 
ciples of  the  book  may  be  found  in  the  others  here  re- 
ferred to,  but  Dr.  Young  crowds  them  on  with  intre- 
pidity and  strength,  into  the  various  attitudes  of  affili- 
ated tmth.     What  was  briefly  and  timidly  suggested  by 


f0f  J?SI: 


310  EVIL    AND    GOD. 

Tullock,  as  relieving  the  difficulties  of  the  subject,  and 
to  neutralize  the  perplexities  of  our  Theology;  Dr.  Y. 
boldly  expands  into  the  order  and  relations  of  system- 
atized truth.  What  the  Problem,  in  its  modesty  and  di- 
rectness stated,  as  first  truths  of  reason,  and  indubita- 
ble intuitions  of  the  human  mind,  as  containing  the 
principles  within  the  range  of  which  this  whole  subject 
could  be  satisfactorily  adjusted ;  he  has  taken  on,  with 
a  greater  breadth  of  statement,  to  their  ultimate  con- 
clusion, and  for  the  benefit  of  the  more  cautious,  or  per- 
haps, the  less  reflecting,  to  the  more  complete  solution 
of  the  problem  involved.  These  Scottish  works  are 
reviewed  in  the  British  Quarterlies,  and  cannot  fail 
to  elicit  discussion,  surely,  north  of  the  Tweed.  Their 
reprint  in  this  country  will  also  still  enlist  the  attention 
of  the  American  mind,  to  a  subject  which,  lying  at  the 
basis  of  all  morality,  yields  in  importance  to  no  other. 
If  we  may  not  know  the  relations  of  God  to  evil, — if 
the  mind  may  not  think  them,  and  the  pulpit  and  the 
press  express  them  fully,  if  they  are  to  be  in  part  muf- 
fled up  by  a  lurking  and  stealthy  theology ;  holding  that 
sin  is,  in  some  comprehensive  sense,  of  the  economy  of 
God,  and  a  Divine  expedient  for  good,  and  in  fact  the 
best  thing  possible  in  its  place  ;  then  indeed  are  all  our 
Christian  teachings  unsustained  and  surface-hke,  and  all 
our  moral  sentiments  outraged  and  belied.  The  idea  is, 
in  the  last  analysis,  pantheistic.  It  constitutes  God  the 
only  cause,  and  sin  and  wrong  the  Divinely  appointed 
method  of  the  universe.  The  Hindus  have  it,  in  its  full 
extent,  and  there  is  no  dividing  of  the  dogma  with  them 
wliich  will  meet  the  demands  of  conscience  or  Christian 


EVIL   AND    GOD.  311 

truth.  There  is,  there  must  be  a  better  edition  of  doc- 
trinal statement  and  belief,  at  this  point ;  and  it  lies  in 
the  direction  of  the  ^vi-iters  refen-ed  to  in  this  notice  It 
is  found  in  distinguishing  the  nature  of  a  moral  system, 
in  ascertaining  the  doctrine  of  a  true  and  proper  per- 
sonality, both  in  the  infinite  and  the  finite,  and  the  nec- 
essary relations  and  demands  of  it,  in  all  affiliated  truth. 
This  would  harmonize  our  theories  with  our  moral  con- 
victions— our  theology  with  our  conscience  and  the  word 
of  God.  Until  this  is  done,  it  is  impossible  that  moral 
science  should  be  complete,  and  the  essential  unity  of 
this  whole  subject  attained.  The  hiatus  lies  between 
our  doctrinal  statements  and  our  moral  sense,  between 
our  creeds  and  our  conscience.  The  one  aflirming  that 
God  is  tempted  with  evil,  and  that  it  is  comprehensively 
according  to  His  will,  and  the  other,  that  it  is  not,  and 
cannot  be.  Consistency  between  them  is  just  what  is 
needed,  for  the  unobstructed  sway  of  both,  and  of  un- 
embarrassed conviction  in  favor  of  the  claims  of  the 
gospel,  and  that  the  works  alluded  to,  will  bear  benign- 
ly on  this  result,  coming,  as  some  of  them  at  least  do, 
from  so  good  a  quarter,  may  be  fairly  and  devoutly  an- 
ticipated. 

EVIL  AND  GOD.    NO.  IL 

The  objections  to  the  received  theory,  that  sin  and 
wrong  are  of  God,  as  being  decreed  and  ordained  by 
Him,  and  are  a  part  of  the  Divine  programme  of  the 
universe,  are  that  it  is  not  appreciable,  is  inconsistent 
with  the  known  character  and  righteousness  of  God ; 
that  it  cannot  be  preached,  or  acted  on,  or  felt  to  be  true 
at  the  time  of  committing  sin ;  that  it  contradicts  con- 


312  EVIL    AND    GOD. 

science,  destroys  the  unity  of  the  moral  nature  of  God, 
and  with  it  takes  away  the  foundation  of  all  morality, 
elevates  sin  to  a  place  impassable  to  it,  by  making  it  a 
Divine  means  and  expedient  for  good,  and  thus  creating 
an  impassable  gulf  between  om*  creed  and  our  conscience, 
and  rendering  our  divinely  constituted  moral  nature  no 
criterion  or  God-send  of  the  moral  nature  of  God. 
These  objections  and  many  more  are  felt  and  acknowl- 
edged on  every  hand.  It  is  admitted  that  this  is  a  terra 
incognita.  The  appeal  is  uniformly  ad  ignorantiam — that 
it  is  a  mystery,  though  yet  to  be  held  as  being  demanded 
by  cognate  truth.  It  is  confidently  said  that  nothing 
can  be,  but  what  God  permits,  and  what  is  on  the  whole 
best,  and  is  thus  according  to  his  will,  and  may  be  mat- 
ter of  Divine  decree  and  arrangement,  as  his  method 
of  the  universe.  But  is  this  so  ?  Just  here  lies  the 
fountain  of  error  on  this  entire  subject.  This  reasoning 
and  this  view  keeps  wholly  in  the  physical  sphere  of 
things.  It  does  not  enter  the  moral  system,  or  get  help 
from  the  necessaiy  elements  thereof,  and  hence  the 
insuperable  hiatus  between  the  creed  and  the  conscience 
at  this  point,  and  hence  the  supposed  necessity  of  hold- 
ing that  sin  and  wrong  are  in  some  sense  agi'eeable  to 
the  mind  and  will  of  God.  But  why  not  give  up  the 
dogma  altogether?  The  consequences  apprehended 
from  the  surrender  of  it,  would  not  follow.  There  may 
he  that  in  a  moral  system  which  God  in  no  sense  wills  or 
permits,  and  we  feel  so,  and  are  conscious  of  it  every 
time  we  commit  sin  and  do  wrong,  and  are,  by  the 
irresistible  laws  of  our  being,  drawn  necessai'ily  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Divine  supremacy  is  in  the  direction 


EVIL    AND    GOD.  31o 

of  rebuke  and  punishment,  and  not  of  the  permission  of 
wrong.  If  the  created  universe  were  a  mere  thing,  God 
might  be  the  only  cause.  But  in  a  moral  system,  where 
there  is  moral  personality,  this  is  otherwise.  Intelli- 
gence is,  in  its  nature,  cause,  and  there  are  as  many 
plans  and  programmes  of  thought  and  action  as  there 
are  intelligent  beings  to  make  them,  and  they  are  not 
necessarily  inclusive  of  each  other,  but  stand  related 
personally  to  their  respective  authors.  Why  does  God 
need  to  pm-pose  the  purposes  of  the  wicked  in  order  to 
deal  -with  them  ?  Must  a  good  being  plan  a  wrong,  in 
order  to  circumvent  or  punish  it,  or  pardon  or  restore 
the  wrong  doer  ?  Must  God  be  the  author  of  confusion, 
to  bring  order  out  of  it  ? 

But  the  thought  is  fundamental,  and  will  bear  a  more 
generic  reference.  I  state  it  therefore  in  the  form  of  a 
universal  proposition,  and  one  which  underlies  this 
whole  subject,  which  will  go  far  in  giving  a  consistent 
and  satisfactory  analysis  of  it.  I  will  give  it  in  the 
fewest  words,  and  invite  inquiiy  to  it.  All  personal  in- 
telligence is  inherently  sovereign,  of  its  own  voluntary  states. 
This  is  of  its  essential  nature.  Remove  this  sovereignty 
any  where  else,  and  you  destroy  this  personal  intelli- 
gence. Take  away  from  a  personal  being  the  sovereign 
control  of  his  voluntary  responsible  movements,  and  you 
reduce  him  to  a  thing.  The  direction  and  absolute  con- 
trol of  his  voluntaiy  action  lies  with  himself,  and  with 
no  other  being  in  the  universe.  This  is  but  a  law  of 
mind,  and  of  all  personality.  To  place  this  elsewhere 
is  only  an  absurdity.  God  is  sovereign  of  the  voluntary 
states  of  His  own  mind ;  those  made  in  His  image  are,  of 


314 


BYIh   AND    GOD. 


theirs.  What  is  the  doctrine  of  laAv  at  this  point  ?  Does 
it  not  claim  what  can  be  withheld '?  Does  it  not  acknowl- 
edge this  ?  Would  it  be  moral  law  without,  or  anything 
but  mere  physical  force,  and  would  there  be  any  virtue  in 
yielding  to  that  which  could  not  be  resisted  ?  What  is 
the  language  of  exhortation?  It  would  be  a  mere 
pageant,  if  the  sovereign  control  of  the  issue  lay  with 
him  who  gave  it. 

Try  this  on  any  scale  you  please,  in  relative  or  social 
life,  in  Church  or  State,  in  the  finite  or  infinite.  Why 
does  God  instruct  or  exhort,  or  discipline,  or  make 
promises,  or  give  commendations,  or  punish?  Why 
have  retribution  at  all  ?  Does  God  prefer  it  ?  Would 
He  rather  that  a  great  many  should  be  lost  than  saved, 
and  could  He  have  it  as  well  as  not,  if  He  only  willed 
it  ?  Will  there  not  always  be  those  over  whose  minds 
God  will  not  have  control  ?  Will  the  moral  state 
of  the  lost  be  a  Divine  preference,  or  according  to  the 
will  of  God  ?  Has  God  the  direct  and  absolute  control 
of  the  state  of  their  hearts,  and  would  they  be  other- 
wise, but  for  His  will  and  pleasure  that  they  should  be 
as  they  are  ?  If  the  absolute  control  is  with  Him,  then 
where  is  the  responsibility  ? 

So  many,  and  more,  are  the  absurdities  indicated, 
of  denying  the  position  here  stated.  And  if  every 
mind  is  a  sphere  of  sovereignty,  and  this  is  a  fundamen- 
tal law  of  moral  personality,  then  may  there  be  that  in 
a  moral  system  which  God  does  not  will  or  decree,  and 
we  may  reduce  His  decrees  and  determinations  to  the 
sphere  of  His  own  acts  and  works,  and  regard  the  ,first 


EVIL    AND    GOD.  315 

as  the  mental  condition  of  the  last.  And  if  so,  then  we 
may  weed  out  all  sin  and  wrong  from  the  pm*poses  of 
God,  and  hold  him  as  in  no  sense  devising  them,  and 
standing  only  in  eternally  antagonistic  relations  to  them, 
and  as  ever  bringing  in  the  best  way  possible,  all  the 
influences  of  law,  and  truth,  and  right,  and  gospel,  and 
all  moral  means  to  bear  on  the  issue,  for  the  prevention 
and  discomfiture  of  sin,  and  for  the  restoration  and 
righteousness  of  intelligent  beings.  These  influences 
are  in  their  nature  resistible.  They  would  not  be  moral 
otherwise.  But  they  may  prevail.  All  men  are  not  as 
bad  as  they  can  be.  The  appeal  is  to  conscience,  and 
the  constituent  principles  of  our  being.  Men  may  re- 
pent, where  they  could  hold  out  in  impenitence.  Many 
may  yield,  as  all  should,  to  truth,  duty  and  the  spirit  of 
God,  and  no  longer  "resist  the  Holy  Spirit."  This 
issue  is  finely  brought  out  by  Dr.  Young,  as  referred  to 
in  my  last,  and  with  referring  to  that  I  close  the  present 
statement,  asking  only  the  attention  of  your  readers  to 
one  more  concise  article,  in  which  I  shall  dwell  a  little 
on  the  main  difficulty  with  most  minds,  and  which  I 
will  here  state :  Why  did  God  create  beings  that  He 
knew  would  sin  against  Him  ? 

EVIL  AND  GOD.    NO.  III. 

If,  then,  such  are  the  objections  to  received  theories, 
that  God  sustains  a  strategetic,  prepositional  relation  to 
sin,  and  that  it  is  comprehensively  according  to  His 
will,  and  a  matter  of  His  decree ;  still  the  question  may 
be  raised,  even  on  the  view  presented  by  the  writers, 
commended  in  these  articles.  Why  did  God  create  intel- 
ligent beings,  ivhom  He  knew  tvould  sin  against  Him  ? 


310  EVIL   AND    GOD. 

There  may  be  reasons  in  the  depths  of  the  Infinite, 
which  it  is  not  im}K)rtant  for  us  now  to  appreciate. 
We  are  interested  in  the  question,  mainly  as  the  first 
princij)les  of  morals  are  concerned,  and  as  we  would 
have  our  minds  set  free  from  those  implications  on  the 
character  of  God  which  false  theories  of  sin  originate. 
I  may  then,  without  presumption,  and  without  pretend- 
ing to  exhaust  the  subject,  suggest  the  following  thoughts 
in  reply : 

1. — God  made  man  upright,  and  for  uprightness  and 
uprightness  sake.  This  we  know  for  he  has  said  so,  the 
one  part  of  the  position  being  included  in  the  other. 
This  surely  no  one  will  gainsay.  If  any  do,  let  them 
draw  out  an  opposite  view,  in  extensu,  and  then  look  at 
it,  and  see  if  they  dare  fellowship  it  and  abide  by  it. 

The  same  is  true  in  respect  to  angels,  as  is  most  man- 
ifest from  His  treatment  of  those  "  that  kept  not  their 
first  estate."  And  that  this  is  a  universal  law  in  the 
intelligent  creation,  is  demonstrably  evident  from  the 
Divine  prohibition  of  all  sin,  and  from  the  uniform,  and 
eveiy  way  revealed  and  published  methods  of  the 
Infinite,  in  relation  to  it.  If  any  one  denies  this,  let 
him  see  if  he  can  express  his  belief  without  mutilating 
the  perfections  and  unity  of  God,  and  undermining  the 
foundations  of  morality.  And  if  this  is  so,  is  it  not 
enough  ?  If  God  made  the  intelligent  universe  upright, 
and  in  His  own  image,  to  appreciate,  and  glorify,  and 
obey  Him,  and  to  be  perfectly  happy  in  His  love  and 
likeness  forever ;  how  good  the  work — how  right  the 
end — how  glorious  the  Being  that  conceived  and  pros- 
ecutes it.     And  this  is  the  more  striking  as  presented  in 


'     •  KVIL    AND    GOD.  317 

its  jibsolute  and  universal  form  of  thouglit-;-viz  : — 
2. — Intelligence  in  uprightness  and  for  it,  is  a  perfect 
work.  A  quiescent  Deity  is  a  solecism.  God  is  a  pow- 
er in  the  direction  of  His  own  perfections,  and  intel- 
ligences like  Himself  and  the  offspring  of  His  own 
spiritual  being,  will  be  His  crowning  work,  and  having 
a  subordinate,  physical  and  sentient  creation  adapted  to 
it  below.  And  beings  so  made,  "in  the  image  and 
after  the  likeness"  of  God,  and  for  the  legitimate  aims 
and  purposes  of  such  beings,  are  a  perfect  work.  It  is 
just  the  work  of  the  Infinite  One,  in  the  infinite  and 
])erfect  freedom  of  His  own  intelligence  and  will. 
Nothing  else  could  be  better — nothing  else  could  be  in 
its  place, — a  moral  system  in  uprightness,  and  for  it,  is 
just  the  sphere  of  the  Infinite  here,  and  the  perfection 
of  the  creating  fiat  of  God.  Just  think  a  moment. 
What  can  be  better  in  the  finite,  than  a  Divine  offspring ; 
intelligence  like  God,  to  be  and  act  in  correspondence 
with  Him,  and  to  tlie  same  end  that  he  does  ?  And  to 
fill  the  universe  with  such  beings,  and  forever  to  enter 
into  communion  with  them  in  all  the  reciprocities  of  the 
Infinite  and  finite,  in  the  legitimate  working  of  a  moral 
system,  is  the  highest  conceivable  design  in  creation. 

3. — Intelligence  is  in  its  nature  free,  and  a  moral  sys- 
tem in  its  voluntary  issues,  is  inherently  self-elective. 
This  is  essentially,  of  its  vitality  and  very  life.  It 
would  not  be  intelligence  without  this.  Take  this 
element  out  of  a  moral  system  and  you  destroy  it  and 
render  impossible  all  responsibility  or  virtue  whatever. 
This  is  its  perfection — this  its  glory.  It  would  not  be 
God-like  but  for  this.     All  that  elevates  it  above  a  mere 


318  EVIL   AND    GOD. 

thing,  concentrates  here.  All  possibility  of  virtue  lies 
here,  that  while  under  the  obligation  and  the  privilege 
to  do  right,  we  may  do  wrong.  Sin  is  inherently  pos- 
sible in  a  moral  system.  It  is  not  constructively  made 
so,  it  is  integrally  possible,  and  the  matter  could  not  be 
otherwise.  All  personality  implies  it — all  responsibility 
and  character,  or  destiny,  or  reward — or  praise  and 
blame — or  honor,  or  glory  and  excellency — all  above  a. 
mere  thing  in  physical  or  sentient  being.  Wrong  is  a 
possible  alternative  in  a  moral  system.  It  can  be, 
although  it  has  no  right,  and  no  Divine  leave  to  be.  It 
can  be,  simply  against  His  will,  and  against  the  object 
for  which  He  made  mind,  and  upholds  it.  This  capa- 
bility is  of  the  nature  of  all  mind  True,  in  God  wrong- 
action  would  not  be  intelligent  action,  and  God  will 
always  act  intelligently  and  in  the  right,  in  the  infinite 
freedom  of  His  spiritual  being.  And  in  the  finite,  the 
commencement  of  wrong  is  more  conceivable  in  the 
first  stages  of  being,  than  after  long  confirmation  in 
holiness  and  felicity.  Still  electivity  is  of  the  essence 
and  glory  of  a  moral  system,  and  of  the  perfect  work 
and  ways  of  the  Infinite.  Finite  mind  can  disobey 
Him.  It  can  act  unreasonably,  and  foolish,  and  wicked, 
and  this,  too,  notwithstanding  all  the  prerogatives  of 
the  Infinite  in  favor  of  its  right  action.  This  is  through 
no  Divine  provision  for  it,  or  Divine  election,  that 
wrong  should  be,  but  simply  the  prerogative  of  mind 
under  the  responsibilities  charged  upon  it. 

Such  are  the  inevitable  concomitants  and  inherency 
of  a  perfect  moral  system.  And  it  is  enough  here  to 
recognize,  that  what  was  liability,  has  become  actuality, 


EVIL   AXn   GOD.  319 

at  least  in  two  or  three  worlds,  out  of  the  myriads  on 
myriads  which  God  has  created.  This,  perhaps,  might 
be  expected,  in  so  vast  an  economy,  though  it  might  be 
but  the  exception  in  the  numberless  ranges  and  spheres 
of  intelligent  beings,  though  it  could  make  no  difference 
in  respect  to  the  nature  of  mind,  or  the  perfection  of  the 
work  and  object  of  God  in  its  creation. 

4. — The  inquiry  and  the  difficulty  supposed  in  it,  are 
wholly  fallacious,  in  that  they  ascribe  to  God  the  acci- 
dents of  time.  This  is  a  mode  of  being  and  reckoning, 
adapted  to,  and  possible  only  in  the  finite  and  created. 
To  the  Infinite,  ''one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a 
thousand  years  as  one  day."  God  is  no  older  than  He 
always  was..  In  absolute  duration  there  is  no  difference 
of  time.  This  is  but  a  circumstance  of  being,  confined 
to  the  finite  and  progressive  ;  it  has  no  significance  as 
to  God.  The  term  foreknowledge,  is  in  accommodation 
to  our  mode  of  being,  not  to  His.  He  knows  things  as 
they  are,  and  in  the  relations  in  which  they  are,  and  not 
otherwise.  Strictly,  He  knows  sin  as  He  sees  it  to  be, 
and  not  otherwise  by  forecast  or  remembrance.  The 
infinite  wisdom  of  God,  in  the  moral'sphere,  is  an  ever 
present  discretion,  in  behalf  of  rightness  and  truth. 
Hence  the  perfect  appositeness  of  the  inquiry  to  Adam 
when  he  had  sinned,  "Hast  thou  eaten,"  &c.,  and  of 
prayer  always  in  behalf  of  things  inherently  right  and 
good.  The  method  of  the  Infinite,  as  we  are  surely  not 
presumptuous  in  saying,  is  to  do  right,  and  perform  a 
perfect  work,  because  it  is  right  and  perfect,  and  for  a 
right  and  perfect  object.  Hence,  as  Dr.  Young  graph- 
ically expresses  it,  for  God  to  act  without  an  end,  (that 


320  EVIL   .VND    GOD. 

is  one  more  ulterior  than  inherent  righteousness,)  is 
greater  and  more  glorious  than  any  end  which  can  be 
named.  To  do  right  for  pure  rightness,  is  the  highest 
end  conceivable.  It  is  just  the  way  of  the  Infinite,  and 
to  prosecute  this  interest,  and  sustain  this  end,  and  its 
concomitants  in  those  made  in  His  image  and  after  His 
likeness,  is  just  the  sum  of  His  relations  to  character 
and  conduct,  is  a  moral  system.  The  objection,  then, 
stands  on  a  fallacy  by  supposing  God  to  be  altogether 
such  an  one  as  ourselves,  instead  of  the  Infinite  and  ab- 
solute One  of  reason  and  the  "  I  am,"  of  the  Bible. 

5. — An  answer  more  appreciable  by  some  minds  is, 
that  if  the  objection  were  not  founded  in  fallacy,  it 
would  nevertheless  be  out  of  place,  and  of  no  practical 
avail.  This  I  would  put  in  a  more  concrete  and  famil- 
iar way,  and  one  level  to  and  abundantly  attested  in  hu- 
man experience.  Is  law  wi'ong,  or  inexpedient  because 
some  will  violate  its  provisions,  or  is  it  to  be  held  ac- 
countable for  their  defalcations  ?  Do  we  hold  human 
government  responsible  for  the  fact  that  it  is  not  uni- 
versally obeyed,  and  is  the  state  answerable  for  rebel- 
lion against?  Is  the  parental  relation  to  be  repudiated 
because  it  is  certain  that  children  will  sin?  The  ob- 
jection alleged  accords  mth  no  principle  of  social  life, 
or  responsible  action.  It  keeps  wholly  in  the  physical 
sphere.  It  does  not  take  any  cognizance  of  the  laws  of 
mind,  or  rise  to  the  dignity  of  a  moral  system.  Does 
not  conscience  always  accept  the  personality  of  guilt  and 
hold  each  one  to  his  responsibility  for  character  and  con- 
duct? With  suitable  advantages  for  right  action,  we 
absorb  and  exhaust  the  responsibility  of  wrong  on  him 


EVIL   AND    GOD.  321 

who  does  it.  The  existence  of  the  infinite  reasons  for 
right  action,  concentrates  his  wrong  upon  him,  while 
the  whole  leaning  and  counsel  and  influence  of  the  In- 
fiinite,  saying  to  him,  "  Oh,  do  not  this  iniquity  which  I 
hate,"  forever  absolves  God  from  the  responsibility  of 
that  wrong. 

•  Besides,  a  Divine  moral  system  is  an  economy  of  be- 
ing, universal  and  perpetual.  It  has  universal  laws,  and 
pei*petual  results.  It  is  a  nature  of  things  in  respect  to 
both  the  body  and  the  soul,  rather  than  a  series  of  dis- 
integrated and  independent  creative  acts.  It  embraces 
a  universe  of  responsible  beings  through  eternity,  in  their 
origin  interlocked  by  social  influences  and  hereditary  de- 
scent, and  by  all  the  attributes  of  a  generic  and  univer- 
sal economy;  and  there  is  no  naturalness  or  place  in 
application  to  it,  of  the  principle  of  the  objection.  It 
is  enough  that  God  made  man  upright,  and  for  upright- 
ness, and  that  this  is  the  Divine  characteristic  and  aim 
of  a  moral  system,  and  that  full  play  is  and  must  be  giv- 
en for  conduct  and  character,  under  law  and  truth,  and 
infinite  reasons  for  the  love,  and  service,  and  enjoyment, 
and  likeness  of  God.  Here  is  the  sum  of  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  Creator  in  respect  to  the  aberrations  of  any 
of  his  intelligent  oflfspring,  from  the  very  terms  of  a 
moral  system, — and  this  being  so,  an  intelligible  and 
philosophical  basis  is  seen,  for  liis  own  Divine  assevera- 
tion, as  in  a  given  instance  to  Israel, — "What  more 
could  I  have  done  to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not  done 
in  it,  wherefore  then,  when  I  looked  that  it  should  bring 
forth  grapes,  brought  it  forth  wild  grapes." 

I  intended  to  express  here  a  few  thoughts  in  respect 
21 


322  EVIL  AND    GOD. 

to  certain  passages  of  inspired  history,  such  as  that  re- 
specting Joseph  and  his  brethren,  Pharaoh,  Cyrus,  and 
the  death  of  Christ  by  wicked  hands,  &c.,  &c., ;  but  my 
limits  forbid  more  than  a  concise  statement  of  the  prin- 
ciple which  harmonizes  the  elemental  truth  found  in 
them,  with  the  view  here  given.  It  is  this,  viz :  From 
the  stand-point  of  the  existence  of  sin,  the  best  way  of  reform 
and  redress  is  a  perfect  way  and  the  ivay  of  the  Infinite. 
From  the  point  of  the  breaking  out  of  rebellion  against 
Grod,  and  the  being  of  wrong,  the  best  method  of  re- 
ducing and  overcoming  it,  and  instructing  the  universe, 
in  view  of  it  and  its  mischiefs,  is  a  perfect  method  and 
the  way  of  God  in  respect  to  it.  This  is  all  the  case 
admits  of.  The  occuiTence  of  sin  interrupts  the  harmo- 
aious  on-going  of  the  moral  sphere,  in  the  way  of  an 
absolute  perfection, — disorder  is  introduced,  and  the  In- 
finite, in  the  perfect  Avisdom  and  benevolence  and  right- 
eousness of  his  nature,  adapts  himself  to  this  anomalous 
state  of  beings  in  the  finite, — and  in  prosecuting  the 
right,  and  the  true,  and  the  good,  and  in  bringing  light 
out  of  darkness  and  order  out  of  confusion ;  he  inter- 
locks with  the  evil  machinations  of  the  wicked,  in  any 
and  all  ways  that  any  good  being  may  in  his  sphere, 
against  the  opposers  of  right  and  in  securing  good  ends 
thereby.  He  lets  sin  criticise  its  own  method — the 
wicked  fall  into  the  pit  which  they  have  digged — yields 
Jesus  to  the  malice  and  hate  of  wicked  men,  that  he  may 
be  the  life  of  the  world ;  and  thus  in  every  way  of  jus- 
tice and  of  mercy,  secures  good  to  the  intelligent  uni- 
verse from  the  miserable  apostacy,  and  wrong,  and  mis- 
cliief  of  sin. 


KEVIEW   OF   DR.    BUSHNELL.  323 


II. 

REVIEW  OF  DR.  BUSHNELL  ON  NATURE  AND  THE  SUPERNATURAL. 

This  book,  by  Dr.  Bushnell  of  Hartford,  is  now  the 
fifth  in  order  in  the  late  theological  literature  of  the  day,  " 
designed  to  suggest  the  relations  of  God  to  sin,  and  note 
the  characteristics  of  a  moral  system.  The  first,  "TAe 
Conflict  of  Ages,''  recounted  the  trials  of  the  past  history 
of  the  Church  on  this  subject,  and  offered  an  apology 
for  the  present  state  of  man,  in  the  supposition  of  a  pre- 
existent  one,  in  which  he  sinned ;  but  did  not  reach  the 
main  question,  "  How  comes  it,  that  there  is  sin  at  all, 
in  any  world  ?"  The  second,  "  The  Problem  Solved,''  was 
introductoiy,  in  design,  to  the  main  issue,  containing,  in 
short  hand,  the  self-evident  principles  on  w^hich  the 
vexed  question  of  moral  evil  may  be  adjusted  in  harmo- 
ny with  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and  the  demands  of 
all  truth. 

The  Burnett  prize,  entitled  "  Theism,"  by  Dr.  Tullock, 
of  Scotland,  came  next,  in  which  moral  evil  was  ruled 
out  of  the  Divine  economy  into  one  of  its  own,  essen- 
tially dualistic  and  anti-theistic,  and  therefore  could 
claim  no  solution  in  an  argument  concerning  God. 

To  this  succeeded  the  work  of  Dr.  Young,  of  Ediu- 
burg,  "I%e  Mystery;  or,  Evil  and  God,"  which  more  elab- 
orately discusses  the  whole  subject,  happily  presenting 
its  main  features,  and,  with  some  immaturity  of  view  at 


324  REVIEW    OF   DR.    BUSHNELL. 

certain  points,  making  a  decided  advance  in  the  right 
direction.  And  now  we  have  Dr.  Bushnell  again  on 
this  side  of  the  water,  seizing  on  the  same  principles  of 
thought,  in  his  characteristic,  original  way,  in  behalf  of 
a  correllate  object. 

The  chief  element  in  all  these  works,  so  far  as  the 
question  of  the  "  origin  of  evil,''  or  its  solution,  is  con- 
cerned, lies  in  the  doctrine  of  personal  cause  in  the  fi- 
nite, as  an  inhering  attribute  of  all  intelligence.  This 
Dr.  Bushnell  presents  in  many  bold  and  trenchant  pas- 
sages of  his  book.  He  treats  it  quite  at  large,  and  with 
many  instructive  references  to,  and  illustrations  of,  its 
intuitive  truth.  Indeed  this  is  the  main  staple  of  his 
work — this  his  idea  of  the  supernatural,  and  with  its 
correllates,  underlies  the  superstructure  he  would  rear. 
In  this  respect  he  has  done  good  service  to  truth,  and 
added  the  contribution  of  his  brilliant  and  fervid  pen, 
to  the  elucidation  of  the  legitimate  personality  of  all 
those  made  in  the  image  of  God.  We  are  not  sure,  in- 
deed, that  in  his  efforts  to  give  this  element  of  our  being 
full  play,  he  does  not  overstep  the  proper  balance  of 
truth,  and  make  sin  and  wrong  a  sort  Of  moral  necessitii 
in  the  universe.  There  is  no  need  of  this.  Something 
better  was  to  be  expected  of  finite  intelligences  than 
that  they  should  apostatize  from  God.  Man  sinned,  at 
first,  under  strong  temptations  from  without,  and  in  liis 
inexpeiience,  and  that  the  multitude  of  the  heavenly 
hosts  are  once  fallen  beings,  we  shall  be  slow  to  admit. 
The  universe  is  so  full  of  God,  and  of  incentives  to  love 
and  praise  Him,  to  all  intelligences  as  He  made  them, 
that  in  respect  to  the  myriads  inhabiting  the  worlds  in 


KEVIEW   OF   »K.    BUSHNELL.  325 

space,  disobedience,  we  may  conclude,  is  by  no  means 
the  rule,  but  the  exception.  Mind  does  not  need  the 
tuition  of  wrong.  There  are  correllates  enough  within 
the  sphere  of  right  for  its  institution  and  training.  Sin 
is  "unreason,"  and  "unnature,"  as  well  as  unrighteous- 
ness, and  sustains  about  the  same  relation  to  the  good  of 
the  universe,  or  the  glory  of  God,  as  the  breaking  of  a 
leg  does,  to  its  being  well  set.  Here  our  author  ap- 
proaches the  solecism  of  Dr.  Hickok  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, (see  Keview  of  Problem  Solved  in  Bibliotheca  Sacra,) 
where  he  argues  that  the  highest  type  of  moral  govern- 
ment must  be  so  severe  in  its  terms  that  some  will  sin, 
thus  putting  the  boot  on  the  wrong  foot,  and  offering  a 
degi-ee  of  apology  for  disobedience  and  crime.  This 
forgets  that  divine  moral  government  is  always  a  per- 
fection—that it  is  necessarily  what  it  is,  and  neither  more 
or  less,  and  also  that  the  universe  is  full  of  considerations 
for  obedience,  and  of  dissuasives  against  sin. 

This  not  well  studied  deflection  of  Dr.  Bushnell  has 
betrayed  him  into  a  further,  a  more  serious,  cognate 
mistake.  It  is  this,  that  sin  is  somehow  ordained  and 
aiTanged  of  God,  and  is  thus  of  the  Divine  economy. 
As  if  to  hold  himself  yet  a  true  son  of  the  Church,  he 
quotes  the  Catechism  for  this.  But  cart  loads  of  cate- 
chisms would  not  sanctify  the  sentiment,  or  heal  the 
wound  it  inflicts  on  the  flrst  principles  of  morals.  •  Phil- 
osophy, logic,  and  morality  proclaim  alike  its  impossi- 
bility. It  forgets  the  anti-theistic  nature  and  relations 
of  sin,  and  its  utter  unaccountablene^s  as  a  Divine  strat- 
egy. It  ignores  the  conclusion  of  both  Tullock  and 
Neander,  who  declare  sin  to  be  utter  "unreason,"  and 


326  REVIEW    OF   DR.    BUSHNELL. 

throw  it  out  of  the  Divine  economy  as  in  no  sense  of  it, 
and  as  not  needing  or  capable  of  a  solution  in  a  "  theis- 
tic  argument.''''  The  doctrine  of  cause  in  the  finite  is 
needful  here.  Intelligence  is  a  cause  per  se,  in  a  plane 
of  its  own,  and  when  acting  wrong,  goes  counter  to 
God,  and  His  plan,  and  purpose,  and  end,  in  all  things. 
Wrong  is  by  no  strategy  of  right.  Sin  has  got  foot- 
hold by  no  Divine  leave.  God  does  all  that  a  perfect, 
moral  government,  administered  in  infinite  wisdom,  ad- 
mits of  against  it. 

But  the  more  generic  and  fundamental  mistake  of  Dr. 
Bushnell  in  this  connection,  and  that  which  is  parent  to 
those  above  referred  to,  lies  in  the  old  category  of  Dr. 
Taylor,  that  the  present  is  a  "  choice'^  of  systems,  and  is 
the  best  possible,  as  involving  the  fewest  evils,  and  having 
the  least  imperfections  and  the  most  good,  of  any  of  ten 
thousand  or  more  that  might  have  been  present  to  the 
mind  of  the  Deity.  But  this  is  not  the  way  of  the  Iif- 
finite. 

A  moral  system,  as  God's  plan,  is  a  perfect  righteous- 
ness, in  the  method,  and  to  the  end  of  a  perfect  and  uni- 
versal righteousness.  Anything  below  that,  He  would 
have  no  heart  to,  and  would  ever  hold  as  utterly  un- 
worthy of  Him.  Any  jumping  at  conclusions,  through 
questionable  expedients.  He  would  repudiate  as  an  ut- 
ter abomination.  Derived  intelligence  He  made  in 
His  own  perfect  image  and  likeness,  and  for  a  sphere  of 
perfect,  righteous  blessedness,  and  ever  administers  His 
government  to  this  end,  and  until  we  take  this  position, 
and  come  up  to  its  behests,  our  theology  and  moral  sci- 
ence will  be  insuperably  lame  and  deficient. 


REVIEW   OF   DR.    BUSHNELL.  327 

Still  our  author,  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  his  book, 
has  well  presented  the  doctrine  of  a  real  personality  in 
finite  course,  and  made  a  decided  approximation  to  the 
relations  of  sin  in  a  moral  system. 

The  reasonings  of  Dr.  Bushnell  in  the  7th  chapter, 
on  "T/ie  anticipatiue  consequences  of  si?i,^*  will  not  strike 
many  as  of  any  great  value.  What  relation  a  merely 
physical  or  sentient  creation  would  have,  by  itself,  to  the 
question  of  right  and  wrong,  it  might  be  difficult  to  de- 
termine. We  see  no  need  of  exhuming  the  deposits  of 
preadamite  periods  of  the  earth,  to  show  by  malforma- 
tions and  carnivorous  propensities  there,  that  God  an- 
ticipated the  outbreak  of  sin  in  our  world.  The  shape 
and  habits  of  animal  life  then,  might  not  have  had  theii" 
reason  and  ground  in  that  idea.  Indeed,  Dr.  Bushnell 
himself  loses  sight  of  it,  in  supposing  the  presence 
here  of  apostate  spirits  from  other  spheres,  that  might 
have  occasioned  the  mischief  observed  in  the  geologic 
ages  of  this. 

The  chapters  on  the  life  and  miracles  of  Christ  are 
well  conceived  and  full  of  interest,  though  some  might 
wish  that  the  true  doctrine  of  miracles  had  been  a  little 
more  sharply  defined.  This  is  so  graphically  taught  in 
the  calling  and  mission  of  Moses  in  the  Book  of  Exodue, 
that  we  ought  not  to  mistake. 

The  chapter  on  "Miracles  and  spiritual  gifts  not  dis- 
continued,'' might  as  well,  or  better  have  been  left  out- 
It  makes  little  for  the  general  purpose  of  the  book ;  will 
be  questioned  extensively  as  to  the  evidence  of  any 
special  Divine  interposition  in  the  facts  referred  to,  and 
will  be  accepted  as  just  so  much  capital  in  their  behoof, 


328  REVIEW    OF   DR.    BUSHNELL. 

by  the  manifold  Spiritualisms  of  the  day.  A  deeper  re- 
gret is,  that  this  chapter  will  lessen  the  respect  and 
weight  really  due  to  the  general  drift  and  conclusions  of 
the  book,  which,  as  a  whole,  is  well  worthy  of  the  care- 
ful study  of  those  who  would  gain  the  philosophy  of 
truth.  Its  doctrine  of  the  "Supernatural,"  as  in  con- 
trast with  mere  "nature,"  is  a  complete  manifestation 
and  triumph.  Some  of  its  positions  give  evidence  of 
not  having  been  carried  to  their  ultimate  analysis,  and 
of  not  being  thought  fully  through,  even  though  the 
work  has  lain  a  year  or  two  on  the  shelf  With  a  meas- 
ure of  allowance  for  Dr.  Bushnell's  rapid,  and  somewhat 
rhetorical  method,  of  writing,  the  book  will  be  read 
with  interest  and  profit.  It  is  very  timely,  and  will  be 
hailed  as  another  evidence  that  mind,  among  us,  is  wak- 
ing up  to  the  demands  of  moral  science,  and  seeking 
for  the  coincidence  of  theology  with  the  elements  of  all 
reason  and  truth. 


KEVIEW    OF   DK.    DEWEY.  329 


III. 

REVIEW  OF  DR.  DEWEY'S  LECTURES. 

March,  1852. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  attend  Dr.  Dewey's  recent 
course  of  lectures,  in  this  city,  on  the  "  Problem  of  Hu- 
man Destiny.'"  He  is  a  man  of  decided  ability,  and  very 
considerable  research  into  the  nature  and  foundations  of 
truth.  His  audiences  were  large  and  select,  and  his 
course  well  sustained  to  the  end.  Many  difficult  prob- 
lems came  under  review,  in  the  main  issue  aimed  at. 
They  were  discussed  with  unflinching  integrity  of  pur- 
pose, and  met  with  the  best  solution  which  the  general 
theory  of  the  course  admitted.  The  error,  if  eri'or  there 
was,  lay  in  the  conception  of  first  principles.  From 
the  frankness  and  independent  cast  of  mind  uniformly 
evinced  by  the  lecturer, 'it  is  perhaps  not  too  much  to 
expect,  that  still  further  research  will  suggest  some  de- 
fects in  the  system  of  thought  which  he  has  proposed. 
They  would  lie  within  the  range  of  these  two  categories 
— the  problem  of  evil  and  the  analysis  of  mind.  I  refer  to 
them  in  the  order  of  the  lectures,  though  the  last  is  truly 
parent  to  the  first,  and  when  placed  upon  a  just  basis, 
would  much  relieve  the  discussion  of  the  other.  Indeed, 
it  would  so  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  sin,  as  to  go  to  the 
very  vitality  ot  the  discussion  given  on  the  problem  of 
evil,  and  set  aside  some  of  its  main  features  as  irrelevant 


330  REVIEW   OF   DR.    DEWEY. 

and  valueless.  It  would  so  change  the  "  venue"  as  to 
render  unnecessary  much  that  was  presented  under  this 
head,  and  relieve  the  subject  of  many  difficulties  seen 
by  the  lecturer,  as  inherent  in  it. 

Dr.  Dewey  is  right  in  saying  that  the  liability  to  sin 
is  necessarily  inherent  in  a  moral  system.  Man  could 
not  be  man  without  the  power  of  choice.  But  there  is 
a  difference,  heaven-wide,  so  far  as  divine  government 
is  concerned,  between  the  liability  to  sin  and  the  actual- 
ity of  it — between  the  capability  of  wrong  and  the  ex- 
istence of  it.  Any  man  can  commit  murder  ;  but  to  he 
a  murderer  is  fearfully  another  thing,  This  distinction 
the  lecturer  does  not  make  wide  enough,  and  it  is  the 
prominent  vice  of  the  reasoning  into  which  he  is  thus 
betrayed.  He  would  vindicate  God  in  this  matter  of 
evil ;  and  this  he  attempts,  not  in  the  way  most  legiti- 
mate, by  tracing  natural  evil  to  its  source  in  moral  evil 
or  sin,  and  holding  the  sinner  himself  responsible  for 
that  and  its  consequences ;  but  by  an  apology  for  these 
evils,  in  the  way  of  mitigation,  and  by  showing  their 
use  and  necessity  in  the  progress  of  human  development. 
I  am  aware  that  the  Dr.  has  some  authority  for  this. 
He  is  but  treading  in  the  steps  of  time-honored  theories, 
which  extract  the  best  good  of  the  universe  from  the 
principle  of  wrong  and  misrule  that  has  got  into  it. 
But  why  hold  God  or  His  government  responsible  at  all 
for  the  occurrence  of  sin  or  its  effects  in  natural  ills,  and 
by  consequence  reduce  it  almost  into  the  same  category 
with  natural  ills,  and  those  themselves  into  an  inheritance 
of  blessings.  Blessings  they  may  be,  or  the  modifica- 
tion and  results  of  them,  in  a  redemptive  economy,  and 


REVIEW   OF   DR.    DEWEY.  331 

may  show  the  wisdom  of  God  in  bringing  good  out 
of  evil.  But  no  thanks  to  sin,  or  its  direct  effects, 
which  all  are  bad,  and  only  bad.  The  lectures  at  this 
point,  and  it  was  the  leading  thought  in  them,  were  too 
apologetic  and  excusatory.  The  subject  of  human  sin- 
fulness and  desert  was  but  seldom  adverted  to,  and  lay 
but  lightly  on  the  face  of  them  all.  I  can  but  view 
their  moral  influence  in  this  aspect  of  them,  as  decidedly 
unhappy. 

But  there  was  logical  consistency  here.  The  conclu- 
sion follows  legitimately  from  the  premises.  Hold  God 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  sin,  and  you  must  excuse 
it,  and  transfer  it  to  the  catalogue  of  providential  ills. 
It  is  here  that  we  struggle  to  be  wiser  than  the  Bible, 
and  that  our  metaphysics  get  at  fault  with  our  common 
sense.  We  attempt  theories  behind  the  facts  of  the 
case,  and  which  neither  reason  nor  revelation  demand. 
The  Bible  holds  the  sinner  alone  responsible  for  sin  and 
its  effects — comprehends  in  him  the  question  of  its  ex- 
istence, and  presents  the  divine  relation  to  it,  as  wholly 
preventive,  remedial  and  punitive.  And  why  is  not 
this  the  end  of  our  wisdom  on  the  subject  *?  "  God 
hath  made  man  upright,  but  they  have  sought  out  many 
inventions."  "  Hast  thou  eaten  of  the  tree  of  which  I 
commanded  thee  that  thou  shouldest  not  eat  thereof? 
— cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake."  &c.  Sin  is  no 
where  in  the  Bible  declared  to  be  a  good,  or  the  means 
of  good,  or  the  necessaiy  means  of  the  greatest  good. 
Wrong  is  no  where  viewed  as  better,  at  any  point,  than 
.  right — sin  than  holiness — the  misrule  of  Satan,  than 
subjection  to  the  government  of  God.     No;  this  is  a 


332 


REVIEW   OF   DR.    DEWEY. 


gift  of  philosophy,  and  of  a  philosophy  that  needs  re- 
view. Men  may  wickedly  do  that  which  God  has  before 
determined  to  be  done ;  but  their  sinning  in  the  premi- 
ses is  no  part  of  His  economy,  and  no  feature  of  His 
government.  Sin  is  wholly  a  foreign  element,  intro- 
duced by  another  hand,  against  His  command — against 
His  will.  It  has  in  no  sense  His  permission  or  consent, 
and  we  should  allow  no  theoretic  view  of  the  compre- 
hensiveness of  His  purposes  to  displace  our  common- 
sense  convictions  of  it,  as  utterly  and  everywhere  an 
evil  and  a  wrong  which  His  soul  abhors. 

These  lectures  do  not  in  form  endorse  the  philosophy 
here  referred  to  ;  still  it  lies  at  the  basis  of  much  of  the 
reasoning  employed,  and  decidedly  influences  the  view 
taken.  Hence  the  very  infrequent  reference  to  the  sins 
and  deserts  of  men,  as  the  source  of  natural  ills,  to  a 
retributive  providence  ;  and  hence,  too,  the  palliations, 
and  defenses,  and  compensations  of  good,  thrown  into 
so  bold  relief  in  treating  of  polytheism,  and  idolatry, 
and  oppression,  and  war,  and  the  many  crying  enormi- 
ties which  have  been  entailed  by  sin  upon  the  genera- 
tions of  men ;  and  also,  the  somewhat  surprising  fact 
that  no  reference  was  made  to  the  penal  efi'ects  of  sin 
in  another  state  of  being. 

But  the  point  of  utmost  interest  in  the  lectures,  is 
that  where  an  analysis  of  the  mental  faculties  is  attempt- 
ed. Here  lies  the  parent  error,  we  think — the  germ  of 
that  philosophy  which  has  well-nigh  absorbed  out 
of  them  all  recognition  of  the  doctrine  of  sin  and  ill- 
desert,  and  rendered  the  moral  influence  of  them  quite 
.otherwise  than  that  which  the  subject  demanded,  and 


REVIEW   OF   DR.    DEWEY.  333 

which  we  devoutly  trust  was  intended.  Dr.  Dewey 
gives  three  faculties — the  intellectual,  the  aesthetic  and 
the  moral ;  or  the  power  to  think,  the  sense  of  the 
beautiful,  and  the  sense  of  right,  or  the  moral  sense  or 
conscience.  He  does  not  enter  the  sphere  of  the  will. 
The  executive  faculty,  the  personal,  voluntary,  respon- 
sible "  me" — that  which  makes  one  an  agent,  and  per- 
fects all  our  relations  to  law,  and  duty,  and  God,  and 
one  another,  he  leaves  out ;  and  doing  this  he  could 
not,  in  any  legitimate  sense,  have  sin  and  wrong,  or 
desert  anywhere  in  the  system,  and  might  consistently 
ignore  the  distinction  between  moral  and  natural  evil, 
and  treat  sin  as  he  would  the  head-ache,  or  a  broken 
limb.  This  was  the  ^^ proton  pseiidos'*  of  the  course. 
Ko  man  can  discuss  the  problem  of  human  destiny,  and 
lose  sight  of  the  distinctive  prerogatives  of  the  will. 
This  is  an  integral  point,  and  failm*e  here  is  fatal.  And 
here  we  must  view  the  doctrine  of  the  lectures  as  fun- 
damentally lame  and  inadequate.  Not  that  the  words 
"  will"  and  ''  free  will"  did  not  occur,  but  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  will  was  not  discussed — its  position  given — 
its  relations  to  moral  government  defined,  and  the 
legitimacy  traced  between  it  and  the  disciplinary  and 
redemptive  economy  of  this  world,  and  the  retributive 
dispensations  of  the  next. 

This  defect  was  the  more  remarkable  when  the  subject 
of  the  mental  constitution  came  up  in  the  course,  as  the 
Dr.  had  availed  himself  of  this  prerogative  of  will,  in 
one  attitude  of  it,  in  his  first  lecture — viz.:  that  of  the 
inherent  possibility  of  transgression  and  wrong  in  a 
moral  system.     This  is  undoubtedly  so.     The  power  of 


334  REVIEW    OF   DR.    DEWEY. 

right  or  wrong  action  is  a  necessary  attribute  of  all 
intelligence.  And  if  so,  why  not  venture  on  it  as  a 
fixed  truth,  and  trust  it  through,  and  stake  the  issue  on 
it ;  not  in  the  attitude  of  privilege  only,  but  of  responsi- 
bility also  1  Why  not  grasp  firmly  the  idea  that  ivill  is 
cause^  and  in  its  sphere,  comprehensive  of  all  cause — 
that,  as  a  faculty,  the  will  is  sole  cause  of  its  actions — 
that  nothing  else  in  the  universe  stands  in  this  relation 
to  them — that  we  are  ourselves  the  cause  of  our  volun- 
tary states  and  conduct — and  that  there  is  a  logical 
absurdity,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  in  going  beyond 
ourselves  with  the  question  of  responsibility?  The 
problem  ends  there,  and  anything  else  we  have  to  say 
about  it,  or  the  connections  of  other  beings  or  subjects 
with  it,  sustains  other  relations  to  it  than  that  of  cause 
and  legitimate  responsibility.  I  do  not  know  that  there 
is  more  happiness  in  the  present  system  of  the  universe, 
than  there  would  be  without  sin.  The  sense  of  right  is 
deeper  in  the  human  soul  than  the  love  of  happiness. 
There  are  other  than  utilitarian  ideas  that  enter  into  the 
question  of  divine  government,  and  the  problem  of 
human  destiny.  The  wisdom  which  is  from  above  is 
first  pure,  and  then  peaceable,  &c.  Dr.  D.,  in  his  discus- 
sion, did  not  go  beyond  our  present  state  of  existence — 
he  did  not  pass  out  of  probation  in  the  solution  of  his 
problem.  This  might  give  a  more  secular  cast  to  his 
lectures,  but  it  left  the  subject  incomplete,  and  embar- 
rassed the  discussion  of  it  so  far  as  pursued.  "  It  is  not 
all  of  life  to  live."  We  must  look  over  into  another 
state  to  solve  the  riddle  of  this.  Without  it,  the  ends 
of  Divine   goverament,   in   discipline   and   in  all   the 


REVIEW   OF   DR.    DEWEY.  335 

remedial  influences  bearing  on  us,  cannot  be  reached — 
this  mixed  providence  accounted  for,  or  a  befitting  solu- 
tion given  of  the  sins,  and  woes,  and  Avi'ongs  and  issues 
of  earth.  But  I  have  extended  these  remarks  beyond 
my  expectation,  and  only  add,  that  Dr.  D.'s  closing- 
lecture  on  the  progi'ess  and  prospects  of  the  race  on 
earth,  was  very  fine,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  summing 
up,  quite  comprehensive  and  sublime. 


336  KREK    WILL. 


IV. 

FREE  WILL. 
[For  the  Evangelist.] 

jVIessrs.  Editors  : — I  read  with  interest  Prof  Smith's 
review  of  Dr.  Whedon  on  the  Will,  in  the  January 
number  of  the  American  Theological  Quarterly/  of  your 
city,  and  as  quarterlies  are  slow  and  are  seen  by  few — as 
I  write  short  notes  now,  and  as  your  readers  are  largely 
among  the  intellectual  classes — permit  a  few  thoughts 
on  the  subject. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  Dr.  Whedon  has  met  a 
shai*p  antagonist,  and  some  of  the  favorite  views  of 
Methodism  a  severe  exposure  in  the  pages  of  Prof. 
Smith.  But  both  men  appear  to  have  raised  ghosts, 
that  they  could  hardly  lay :  the  author  through  his 
traditional  dogma  of  a  ''gracious  ability,'*  and  the 
reviewer  in  his,  of  a  universal,  divine  predestination. 
The  latter,  however,  slips  the  leash  somewhat,  under  the 
cognomen  of  ''permissive  decrees,"  which  lie  does  not 
define,  while  he  holds  his  man  rigorously  to  the  con- 
sequences of  his  needless  admissions. 

But  why  treat  free  will  as  if  it  were  a  question  in 
mere  physics,  and  not  distinguish  between  the  personal 
within  us  and  a  treadmill  or  a  steamboat  ?  Why  run 
the  parallels  of  "  cause  and  effect"  upon  it,  or  brandish 
weapons  about  the  point  of  "greatest  apparent  good," 


FREE   WILL.  837 

as  if  that  exhausted  the  discussion  or  met  at  all  the 
merits  of  the  subject  ?  In  this  afternoon  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  of  grace,  why  not  shake  off  the  clogs  of  a 
gross  materialism  of  method  and  rise  into  the  super- 
natural, on  a  theme  so  commanding  it?  This  might 
have  saved  the  author  much  mortification,  and  given 
the  reviewer  some  work  that  he  may  not  have  anticipate 
ed.  The  subject  of  free  will  or  human  personality 
accepts  a  wider  range  and  lies  in  other  parallels  of 
thought  and  speech  than  those  found  in  the  Review. 
The  question  of  "alternate  choice"  is  a  vital  one  in 
philosophy  as  well  as  in  fact,  as  the  hinge  of  all  respon- 
sibility and  morals,  and  there  are  those  who  will  regret 
to  see  it  put  hors  du  combat  through  the  weakness  of  an 
advocate,  or  by  being  set  side  by  side  with  other  ma1>- 
ters,  with  which  it  has  little  affiliation.  Entering  their 
disclaimer  here,  let  me  attend  it  with  a  few  brief  sugges- 
tions. 

The  argument  is  three-fold,  which  denies  the  identity 
of  the  "  is"  and  the  "  can  be,"  or  that  the  one  is  the 
exponent  of  the  other,  in  the  moral  sphere,  and  which 
claims  for  every  intelligent,  responsible  being,  anywhere 
and  everywhere  and  always,  and  that  he  exercises  it,  the 
power  or  privilege  of  contrary  or  alternate  choice  ;  it  lies  in 
the  characteristics  and  nature  and  logic  of  the  doctrine 
itself  of  choice  ;  it  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  conscience^ 
it  is  the  vital  element  of  moral  government  and  in  all 
responsibility. 

I  have  no  choice  if  I  can't  choose  either,  and  if  I  can 
choose  either,  I  can  choose  the  one  I  don't  choose,  and 
that  is  the  whole  of  it  at  this  point.  It  is  a  mere  ques- 
22 


338  FREE    WILL. 

fcion  of  logic.  If  two  things  are  submitted  to  my  elec- 
tion, I  have  the  privilege  of  either,  or  there  is  no  vitality 
In  the  transaction,  and  I  may  choose  either  or  neither, 
act  wisely  or  foolishly,  righteously  or  unrighteously  in 
the  premises — according  to  my  convictions  or  contrary 
to  them — as  I  should — or  otherwise.  It  is  in  the  nature 
of  mind  and  of  the  case,  and  no  man  is  placed  where 
just  this  cannot  be  said  6f  him,  and  it  is  just  this  which 
oonstitutes  his  manhood  and  distinguishes  between  him 
an4  the  steamboat  and  the  water-wheel.  To  be  able  to 
move  freely  one  way  does  not  meet  the  t!2rms  of  the 
problem.  It  may  be  a  conscious  movement,  but  this 
does  not  give  it  vitality  on  the  question  before  us,  or 
make  it  authentic.  There  must  be  the  jurisdiction  over 
the  issue,  the  self-control  and  power  to  shift  and  alter, 
to  stop  or  go  on,  the  will  and  the  wont,  everywhere  and 
always,  ever  at  hand,  always  liable  and  legitimately  in 
the  movement  and  characteristic  of  it,  so  that  to  say 
that  the  power  to  the  contrary  is  of  no  use,  as  it  is  never 
exercised,  is  simply  irrelevant  and  gratuitous,  as  it  is 
exercised  constantly  and  constitutes  the  spirit  and  life 
of  the  transactions,  too,  without  which  it  would  sink 
out  of  the  sphere  of  mind  and  become  a  question  in 
qiere  physics. 

And  this  also  is  (2)  the  testimony  of  consciousness. 
J*rof.  Smith  never  did  wrong  without  the  conviction 
that  he  was  not  obliged  to  do  it,  without  being  conscious 
of  this  power  to  the  contrary,  and  that  situated  just  as 
■te  was  he  could  have  said  No,  when  he  said  Yes  ;  and 
that  if  he  could  put  in  the  plea  "  I  could  not  help  it,'' 
conscience  would  offer  excuse  now  and  take  it  to  the  bar 


FREE   WILL.  339 

of  God.  So  with  every  man.  No  one  is  ever  placed 
where  he  cannot  do  right.  We  are  not  obliged  to  follow 
a  great  temptation  or  a  leading  or  prevalent  disposition. 
Its  prevalence  is  no  test  of  our  powers,  and  no  reason 
why  we  should  not  countermand  it,  and  act  according 
to  truth  and  conscience  and  right.  And  this  we  do 
whenever  we  change  character  and  conduct.  We 
exercise  this  gift  of  contrary  choice  and  say  to  passion, 
hush,  be  still.  And  no  one  ever  changed  character  or 
conduct  without  it.  No  sinner  ever  turned  to  God 
without  it,  or  repented  of  his  sins.  But  for  it,  a  being 
once  wrong  is  always  wrong,  and  character  is  stereotyped 
for  eternity.  Without  the  power  to  change  what  shall 
change  it — how  quench  a  prevalent  motive,  or  supply 
its  opposite?  Every  child  acts  on  the  principle  here 
advocated ;  it  is  in  the  woof  of  human  society  and  in  the 
experience  of  every  man. 

And  again  (3)  what  is  moral  government  without 
this?  Why  undertake  to  command  me,  when  I  am 
under  the  sway  of  wrong  with  no  power  to  the  contraiy  1 
Moral  government  is  a  falsity  and  a  hoax,  if  I  cannot  at 
any  and  all  times  and  however  situated,  repent  of  my 
sins  and  obey  it.  The  power  of  self-control  in  him  to 
whom  it  applies  is  inherently  of  it,  and  its  enacting 
clause.  Moral  influences  are  inherently  resistible.  This 
is  in  the  nature  of  all  exhortation,  or  command,  or 
reward,  or  punishment,  or  responsibility  at  all,  or  intel- 
ligent destiny;  as  good  command  tadpoles  or  even 
cabbage  stumps  as  men  without  this.  There  is  no  merit 
in  obedience  where  there  is  no  power  to  resist.  A  vir- 
tue that  is  inevitable  is  no  virtue.     Simply  to  move  in 


340  FREE   WILL.  - 

grooves  prepared,  and  by  force  applied,  smoothly  it  may 
be  said,  though  roughly  enough  in  fact,  does  not  supply 
the  leading  element  in  moral  government  or  rise  out  of 
the  sphere  of  simple  physics. 

Nor  is  it  of  use  to  say  that  by  "  necessity"  only 
"certainty"  is  meant.  More  is  meant.  A  necessary  cer- 
tainty is  claimed,  and  that  nothing  else  can  be  in  its  place, 
or  it  is  not  worth  the  ink  that  expresses  it.  What  do  we 
know  of  the  certainty  of  future  volitions  ?  Experience 
tells  a  sad  tale  here.  God  knows  all  things  by  intuition 
from  eternity.  He  knows  them  because  he  sees  them.  He 
sees  the  end  from  the  beginning.  Contingency  and  cer- 
tainty are  alike  open  to  his  inspection,  physics  or  morals, 
and  that  whether  he  has  decreed  all  or  not.  Most 
agents  know  more  than  they  decree,  or  would  like  tx) ; 
I  confess  I  do,  and  much  that  I  should  be  ashamed  to 
have  decreed.  And  I  do  not  know  but  God  does.  At 
least  he  says  so,  and  speaks  of  much  that  he  has  no 
mind  to  at  all.  He  doubtless  decrees  all  he  does,  as  all 
agents  do,  and  acts  always  from  the  counsels  of  his  own 
will,  and  here  comes  the  kink  of  the  worsted.  The 
plea  of  necessity  is  for  a  theological  reason.  It  is  asked, 
lest  some  of  God's  decrees  should  not  be  executed.  We 
outrage  one  science  for  the  sake  of  dogmas  in  another. 
And  is  this  fair  *?  We  take  the  life  blood  of  morals 
and  reduce  all  personality  to  a  movement  in  mechanics, 
for  the  sake  of  an  excresence  in  theology  at  once  un- 
gainly, uncomfortable,  and  gratuitous.  Who  knows 
that  a  divine  decree  necessarily  conditionates  all  that  is ; 
that  the  pranks  of  the  devil  equally  with  the  work 
of  Jesus  are  of  the  counsel  of  God,  and  that  all  otjier 


FKEE   WILL.  •  341 

agencies  and  acts  in  the  universe  are  absorbed  by  and 
included  in  a  Divine  agency,  forecast  and  purpose  ? 
Cannot  God  be  supreme  on  other  terms  than  this,  and 
better  put  down  wrong  without  decreeing  it  than  with  ? 
Must  sin  be  according  to  His  "  decretive  will,"  in  order 
to  be  subdued  and  overcome  by  Him  ?  The  purposes 
of  a  being  are  like  Himself  They  have  a  personal  re- 
lation to  their  author,  and  characterize  him  as  showing 
what  he  is,  and  why  make  monstrous  the  unity  and  per- 
sonality of  God  by  putting  Him  on  all  sides  of  a  moral 
question,  and  bringing  sin  as  well  as  holiness  into  the 
economy  of  God  ?  Here  is  the  enigma  and  the  trouble, 
and  it  is  bad  theology  as  well  as  bad  metaphysics.  Cast 
out  sin  to  its  own  agencies,  and  leave  God  to  His,  and 
to  those  of  all  righteousness.  It  is  this  assumption  of  a 
universal  Divine  predestination,  sin,  and  rebellion,  and 
wrong  included,  and  thus  throwing  to  some  extent,  the 
patronage,  the  guardianship,  and  superintendance  of  the 
Most  High  over  them,  thus  cutting  the  grooves  and 
necessitating  the  direction ;  that  works  the  mischief. 
We  can  get  loose  from  this,  to  the  advantage  of  moral 
government,  the  laws  of  mind,  and  the  laws  of  God. 
Allow  every  agent  to  decree  his  own  acts,  aud  have 
control  of  his  own  acts  under  the  responsibilities  of  his 
position,  and  then  indicate  what  he  would  have  others 
do,  and  influence  them  in  behalf  of  the  doirg  of  it. 
He  may  fail  sometimes,  as  God  does,  in  bringing  sinners 
to  repentance.  But  not  always.  Men  may  repent  when 
they  can  resist.  They  do.  Moral  means,  though  not 
irresistible,  may  avail,  and  increasingly,  as  they  will, 
immeasurably  *'  in  the  ages  to  come."     God  knows  it, 


342  FREE   WILL. 

and  He  has  revealed  it  to  ns.  The  time  will  come 
when  men  will  repent  by  scores  and  thousands,  and 
come  in  by  cities  and  countries,  almost  without  resist- 
ance, as  children  do  sometimes,  and  a  nation  be  born  in 
a  day.  Men  will  yield  to  the  Spirit,  when  they  might 
resist  and  grieve  Him.  They  will  love  God  and  Jesus 
with  full  and  conscious  power  to  the  contraiy,  and  be 
all  the  happier  that  they  choose  the  right  when  they 
could  choose  the  wrong,  and  that  their  obedience  is  the 
spontaneous  gushing  of  their  own  elective  and  living 
personality,  helped  of  God  graciously  and  within  the 
sphere  of  their  ability,  and  not  the  mere  effect  of  an 
outside  pressure,  in  which  they  could  do  nothing  but 
move  as  they  are  moved. 

I  am  happy  to  observe  the  interest  felt  in  this  subject, 
by  our  best  thinkers  and  writers,  and  hope  to  see  it  yet 
better  understood,  before  I  go  hence. 
Yours  tnily, 

M.  P.  Squier. 

Juke  22(1,  ls65. 


spirit's  influences. 


V. 

DOCTRINE  OF  THE  SPIRIT'S  INFLUENCES. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spuit  is  fundamental  in  the 
system  of  Christian  truth ;  it  is  the  central  pillar  of  the 
edifice  of  grace,  and  should  be  intelligently  regarded  by 
all  who  serve  at  the  altar,  or  labor  for  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom  of  God. 

The  subject  has  intrinsic  value,  and  a  reference  to  it 
is  especially  appropriate  now,  when,  though  living  undei* 
the  promised  dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  and  near,  aS 
marked  in  prophecy,  to  the  expected  glories  of  the  lat- 
ter day,  we  mourn,  as  with  one  consent,  His  absence, 
and  the  declensions  of  Zion.  Want  of  discrimination 
in  respect  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit,  may  in  part  have 
contributed  to  the  evil  complained  of,  and  be  among  the 
impediments  to  a  brighter  day. 

The  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  redemption  is  usually 
summed  up  under  the  heads  of  inspiration,  mu-aculouS 
gifts,  and  the  spiritual  renovation  of  the  hearts  of  men. 
Dismissing  the  first  two,  as  aside  from  the  object  of  this 
article,  we  confine  ourselves  to  the  last.  The  children 
of  the  kingdom  "  are  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit"— 
"the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts  by  the 
Holy  Ghost" — "we  are  saved  by  the  washing  of  regen- 
eration, and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 


344  spirit's  influences. 

Our  aim,  in  the  ensuing  pages,  is  to  trace  some  of  the 
characteristics  of  this  work  of  the  Spuit,  as  seen  in  the 
light  of  reason  and  the  Bible. 

1. — This  work  is  not  for  the  supply  of  defective  fac- 
ulties of  mind ;  it  is  not  in  place  of  any  that  are  dis- 
paraged or  wanting  since  the  apostacy  of  man,  or  to 
amend  deficiencies  in  the  constitutional  elements  of  his 
intelligent  nature.  He  has  all  the  faculties  now  which 
he  had  before  the  fall,  or  will  ever  have,  and  all  that  are 
needed  and  appropriate  to  his  sphere  of  existence  and 
responsibilities.  He  has  all  the  susceptibilities  which  he 
had  at  the  creation,  and  is  inherently  capable  of  all  that 
lies  within  the  range  of  his  designed  being ;  of  becom- 
ing an  angel  or  a  devil,  and  that  too  in  the  way  of  the 
intelligent  and  conscious  formation  of  character,  under 
the  responsibilities  of  law.  We  conceive  these  to  be  as 
truly  the  attributes  of  man  now,  as  of  any  other  respon- 
sible being.  The  claims  of  a  perfect  law  are  as  appro- 
priately applicable  to  him  now,  as  when  in  the  garden 
of  Eden,  or  to  the  fallen  or  unfallen  spuits  of  other 
worlds.  Character  in  him  rises  from  the  use  of  the 
same  faculties  as  in  them.  His  lapse,  recovery,  and 
confirmed  holiness,  are  according  to  the  same  laws  of 
mind.  To  give  up  the  integrity  of  man's  mental  con- 
stitution, is  to  surrender  the  testimony  of  consciousness, 
and  with  it,  both  the  sense  of  amenability  to  law,  and 
the  fact  of  its  intelligent  application  to  us.  It  is  to 
blot  out  moral  philosophy  from  the  list  of  the  sciences, 
and  reduce  man  to  the  condition  of  idiocy  or  the  brute, 
fireiy  blow  aimed  at  the  elements  of  the  intelligent  na- 
ture of  man,  strikes  equally  at  the  doctrine  of  his  ac- 


spirit's  influences.  345 

countability,  and  the  position  of  our  race  in  the  moral 
universe. 

2. — The  Spirit's  work  in  conversion  is  not  to  render 
the  mind  capable  of  responding  to  truth.  This  capabil- 
ity is  innate.  The  mind  is  constitutionally  adapted  to 
the  apprehension  of  truth,  and  truth  adapted  to  influ- 
ence mind.  The  element  of  reason  in  man,  embracing 
in  the  term  all  that  in  him  v^^hich  is  the  subjective  ground 
of  responsibility,  is  like  reason  in  an  angel,  or  in  God 
Himself  It  is  His  image  in  man.  It  is  of  God's  creat- 
ing, and  after  His  own  hkeness.  To  it  He  reveals  Him- 
self, as  to  that  in  man  which  can  imderstand  and  appre- 
ciate His  communications,  and  apprehend  the  true  rela- 
tions and  fitness  of  things.  Reason  is  essentially  unique 
in  the  universe  of  moral  beings,  and  alike  in  its  legiti- 
mate intimations,  whether  situated  in  the  Divine  Being, 
in  angels,  or  in  men.  If  not,  there  is  no  correspondence 
m  the  parts  of  the  divine  economy  in  this  respect.  If 
reason  is  one  thing  in  God,  and  another  in  angels,  and 
still  another  in  man,  what  foundation  for  intellectual  in- 
tercourse can  there  be  between  the  parties  ?  What  com- 
mon reference  to  the  same  rule  of  right,  the  one  same 
bond  of  relationship  *?  The  reason  of  man  must  be  the 
counterpart  of  the  reason  of  God,  if  God  puts  man  in 
intellectual  coiTespondence  with  Himself^ — extends  over 
man  His  institutes  of  moral  government,  and  holds  him 
to  the  responsibility  of  acting  according  to  the  mind  and 
will  of  God.  In  one  moral  universe,  the  elements  of 
mind,  finite  or  infinite,  must  be  in  kind  the  same,  and 
hold  the  relationship  of  common  elements  of  reason  and 
moral  being,  and  this  is  man's  intellectual  relation  to  the 


346  spirit's  influences. 

universe  of  existent  beings  and  truths.  It  is  of  the  na- 
ture of  his  intelligence  to  apprehend  truth  and  its  rela- 
tions, and  to  approve  them.  To  this  attribute  of  reason 
God  appeals  in  all  His  communications,  as  the  counter- 
part of  His  own  intelligence,  and  which  gives  off  inti- 
mations in  accordance  with  His  truth  and  will.  He  has 
but  one  standard  of  right  and  wrong — but  one  law  for 
angels  and  men,  and  holds  all  to  the  responsibility  of 
understanding  it  alike,  and  understanding  it  aright. 
One  economy  of  legislation  answers  for  a  universe  of 
minds.  God  treats  all  as  though  the  element  of  reason 
were  alike  in  all,  and,  according  to  the  fitness  of  things, 
like  His  own.  Such  is  the  verdict  of  human  legisla- 
tion. One  law  and  one  penalty  are  equally  for  the  mil- 
lions of  the  state  or  nation ;  a  common  responsibility  at- 
taches, where  truth  is  known,  and  reason  not  dethroned. 
We  exact  the  boon  of  right  intentions  from  all  to  whom 
our  intercourse  extends,  and  plead  it  for  ourselves.  We 
commit  our  cause  to  the  arbitration  of  posterity  and  the 
world,  on  the  one  principle  of  the  generic  character  of 
mind ;  of  the  essential  accordance  of  reason  with  the 
nature  of  things  and  the  reason  of  God.  We  anticipate 
the  same  for  it  in  the  future  world,  as  we  rise  up  in 
knowledge  and  holiness  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of 
perfect  ones  in  Christ.  On  this  legitimacy  of  reason, 
and  its  likeness  to  the  God  of  reason  and  the  Bible,  do 
we  fix  as  the  subjective  ground  of  the  exhortations  of 
that  book,  and  ask  submission  to  its  dictates.  Other- 
wise we  may  as  fitly  preach  truth  to  the  brute  as  to  man ; 
as  well  discourse  on  the  high  concerns  of  judgment  and 
mercy  to  "the  spirit  of  a  beast  that  goeth  downward  to 


spirit's  influences.  347 

tlie  earth,"  as  to  "the  spirit  of  man  that  goeth  upward ;" 
as  well  urge  obligation  and  destiny  on  the  worm  in  his 
slime,  as  on  him  to  whom  "the  inspiration  of  the  Al- 
mighty hath  given  understanding." 

We  speak  here  of  the  element  of  reason  as  created 
and  constituent  in  man ;  of  its  essential  oneness  of  na- 
ture in  the  universe  as  the  basis  of  thought — the  per- 
cipient of  moral  truth — the  source  of  authority,  or  the 
subject  of  command, — the  responsible  author  of  all  men- 
tal and  moral  acts; — that  to  which  God  has  revealed 
Himself,  and  with  which  He  condcbcends  to  reason, — 
before  which  He  submits  the  rectitude  of  His  own  con- 
duct, and  from  which  He  challenges  results,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  reason  that  framed  the  universe  and  gov- 
erns it ;  and  it  is  to  this  characteristic  of  mind  that  we 
refer  in  asserting  for  it  the  inherent  power  of  respond- 
ing to  truth,  and  which  we  regard  as  the  basis  of  all  our 
moral  relations  to  God  and  duty,  to  probation  and  des- 
tiny.    Hence, 

3.. — ^The  work  of  the  Spirit  under  consideration,  is  not 
to  make  men  responsible  for  the  issue  of  truth  commu- 
nicated to  them.  Responsibility  is  inherently  appropri- 
ate to  man ;  it  is  the  natural  result  of  being  constituted 
as  we  are ;  it  is  an  element — a  law  of  our  moral  being. 
We  consciously  form  character  under  the  light  of  truth, 
and  hold  ourselves  and  each  other  responsible  for  right 
or  wrong  action,  under  consideration  addressed  to  the 
mind.  Increased  light,  means,  privileges,  and  helps,  en- 
hance the  measure  of  responsibility,  but  they  do  not  lay 
the  foundation  for  it,  as  an  element  of  our  being.  It 
springs  legitimately  from  our  own  attributes  and  rela- 


348  spirit's  influences. 

tionship  to  God  as  creatui'es.  Responsibility  to  obedi- 
ence does  not  depend  on  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  Of  ourselves,  and  without  His  functions,  we  are 
fitly  held  answerable  for  all  the  truth  that  meets  our  eye, 
for  all  the  considerations  to  right  action  which  cross  our 
path.  Truth  is  obligatory  without  the  Spirit.  Men  are 
bound  to  obey  the  Gospel,  even  if  the  Spirit  be  with- 
held from  them ;  they  would  have  been,  if  the  doctrine 
of  the  Spirit  had  never  been  revealed,  or  if  this  element 
of  mercy  had  never  entered  into  the  economy  of  the  Di- 
vine dispensations  to  man.  Consciousness  gives  off  this 
intimation  of  responsibleness  in  respect  to  all  om-  states 
and  acts  of  mind  which  are  related  to  law.  The  vilest 
of  men  reveal  it  in  the  excuses  they  invent  for  their 
wickedness.  If  it  be  not  inherently  resultant  of  our 
moral  and  intelligent  nature,  the  impenitent  man  is  free 
from  the  obligation  to  obedience,  and  the  "finally  lost" 
will  find  apology  for  the  sad  issue  of  the  means  of  grace 
in  respect  to  them.     And  hence, 

4. — The  work  of  the  Spii'it  in  conversion  is  not  to 
create  a  conscience.  This  faculty  also  is  a  constitution- 
al element  of  our  being,  allied  to,  and  conjunct  with 
reason,  and  its  existence,  as  such,  is  evinced  in  consid- 
erations already  adduced.  We  no  more,  evidently,  have 
intellect  to  investigate  and  understand  the  relations  of 
truth,  than  we  have  an  inherent  provision  in  our  being, 
or  a  moral  sense,  to  feel  amenability  to  law,  obligation 
to  right  action,  and  compunction  for  wrong.  All  that 
can  or  need  be  said  about  the  matter  is,  that  God  has 
so  made  us,  and  that  it  is  manifestly  appropriate  to  the 
design  of  our  being,  that  we  should  be  so  constituted. 


spirit's  influences.  349 

A  conscience  is  inseparable  from  us  every  where,  and 
through  every  stage  of  our  being.  Early  childhood 
evinces  it;  its  scorpion  sting  extorts  confessions  from 
men  steeped  in  crime ;  and  its  province  in  a  future  world 
we  discover  in  the  anguish  of  the  worm  that  never  dies. 

Conscience  may  be  stifled,  for  a  time,  but  cannot  be 
destroyed.  It  may  be  misinformed.  The  light  that  is 
in  the  understanding  may  be  defective,  and  the  con- 
science be  poorly  conditioned  to  discharge  its  appropri- 
ate functions;  but  it  is  an  honest  faculty.  It  accords 
with  the  reason  in  man,  and  the  reason  and  will  of  God. 
So  far  as  it  has  light  and  opportunity,  its  intimations 
are  in  behalf  of  law  and  duty.  Its  struggle  is  for  the 
supremacy  of  right  in  the  soul.  It  is  the  antagonist  of 
sinful  passion  and  propensity.  With  reason  and  truth 
and  the  Spirit  of  God,  it  forms  the  antagonist  force  to 
all  that  is  wrong  in  man.  It  is  God's  vicegerent  in  us, 
for  our  recovery  and  restoration  to  His  image  and  favor. 

Conscience  is  of  right  the  dominant  principle  in  the 
soul,  and  where  it  is  not,  in  fact,  there  is  conscious 
wi'ong.  Its  legitimate  privilege  is  to  reign.  De  jure, 
it  is  king  among  the  principles  of  action,  and  where  it, 
is  not  de  facto^  there  is  anarchy  and  all  misrule.  It  may 
be  overborne  by  lawless  passion,  worldliness,  or  premed- 
itated sin,  or  vicious  habit  or  propensity,  but  it  will 
never  abdicate  the  throne. 

The  contest  it  will  never  yield;  and  if  not  successful, 
with  the  agencies  which  redemption  brings  to  its  aid,  to 
reclaim  the  sinner  during  his  probationary  season,  then 
may  he  anticipate  its  bitter  reproaches  to  mingle  in  the 


350  spirit's  influences. 

ingredients  of  his  cup,  when  the  privilege  of  repent- 
ance is  passed. 

The  reference  to  conscience  as  thus  an  attribute  in 
man,  is  every  where  ready  and  unembarrassed  in  the 
Scriptures.  To  those  who  brought  to  the  Saviour  a  wo- 
man accused  of  adultery,  he  says,  "  He  that  is  without 
sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her.  And 
they  which  heard  it,  being  convicted  by  their  own  con- 
science, went  out,  one  by  one." 

The  story  of  the  voluptuous  Herod  is  full  of  meaning 
on  this  point.  He  had  foolishly  followed  in  the  path- 
way of  his  passions  and  vices.  He  had  beheaded  John 
Baptist  to  please  a  guilty  woman.  But  right  reason  re- 
volted; his  conscience  condemned  him;  he  could  not 
wholly  brave  the  light  and  reflection  that  would  harrow 
up  his  soul,  and  fill  his  imagination  with  sights  of  ter- 
ror— and  he  finds  a  John  Baptist  in  every  preacher  of 
righteousness  he  meets. 

The  woman  of  Israel  said  to  Elijah,  "  O,  thou  man  of 
God,  art  thou  come  to  call  my  sin  to  remembrance,  and 
to  slay  my  son  V  And  the  brethren  of  Joseph,  brought 
into  trouble  before  the  governor  of  Egypt,  "  said  one  to 
another,  we  are  verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother,  in 
that  we  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul  and  we  would  not 
hear ;  therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon  us." 

5. — The  work  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  renewal  and  sanc- 
tification  of  the  hearts  of  men,  is  every  way  in  accord- 
ance with  the  laws  of  mind.  Its  aim  is  the  legitimate 
action  of  mind,  according  to  its  constituent  laws;  its 
commerce  is  with  reason  and  truth ;  its  object,  the  right- 
ful supremacy  of  conscience ;  its  direct  result  in  us,  our 


spirit's  influences.  351 

conscious  and  responsible  action  in  accordance  with  the 
highest  reason. 

Our  prominent  metaphysicians  have  been  long  in 
arriving  at  the  very  obvious  conclusion,  that  the  fruit 
of  the  Spirit  is  just  that  which  is  required  of  man — that 
his  agency  is  at  the  point  of  securing  right  action  in  us 
— his  work  that  of  influencing  to  it.  This  is  at  length 
conceded,  and  heralded  as  a  new  idea  in  the  science  of 
mind,*  while  the  wonder  should  rather  be,  that  this  con- 
ception is  of  so  recent  date.  But  attention  has  been  so 
occupied  about  tastes  and  substratums,  the  imagination 
so  spell-bound  by  the  time-honored  phrases  of  an  anti- 
nomian  theology,  that  we  have  been  wont  to  exhaust 
the  Spirit's  work  in  the  business  of  clearing  away  the 
obstructions  to  right  action,  which  have  accumulated  in 
the  mind's  history,  and  which  rest  upon  it,  previous  to 
conversion. 

The  grand  misconception  has  been,  that  propensity  is 
the  law  of  choice — that  one  must  act  according  to  his 
disposition  ;  or,  in  popular  language,  that  passion  must 
rule ;  and  that,  to  secure  right  action  in  the  soul,  you 
must  first  destroy  all  the  incentives  to  wrong  action 
there.  Prevalent  doctrine  on  the  subject  seems  to  be, 
that  reason  and  conscience  and  truth,  conducted  by  the 
Spirit,  are  of  no  weight  as  an  antagonist  force  to  pro- 
pensity— that  an  old  and  bad  propensity  or  habit  or 
passion,  is  not  dislodged  by  the  expulsive  power  of  a 
new  and  good  affection  wrought  by  the  Spirit,  in  the 
commerce  of  truth  with  the  constituent  elements  of  our 
moral  nature,  and  thus  changes  effected  in  the  mind  on 
*  See  Bib.  Repos.  Dr.  Woods,  1846  and  6. 


352  spirit's  influences. 

the  subject  of  religion,  as  they  are  in  respect  to  other 
subjects.  No  ;  but  sinful  propensity  (says  the  theory  in 
question)  must  first  be  cured — the  effects  of  all  the 
wrong  action  of  the  will  be  done  away,  and  a  new  sus- 
ceptibility be  lodged  in  the  soul,  as  a  prerequisite  to  the 
influence  of  objective  truth,  and  the  capability  of  right 
action  in  the  will,  and  from  which  right  action  there 
shall  flow  as  a  matter  of  course — and  this  too  by  a  pro- 
cess untold  and  inscrutable,  and  in  respect  to  which 
man  has  neither  agency  nor  consciousness.  Here  we 
demur,  and  record  our  conviction  that  no  change  of  voli- 
tion, conduct  and  character,  was  ever  so  wrought. 
Adam  or  the  angels  could  not  have  turned  from  holiness 
to  sin,  by  such  a  process,  nor  do  we  from  sin  to  holiness. 
Defection  from  entire  holiness  cannot  be  thus  account- 
ed for.  The  scheme  involves  the  twofold  anomaly  of  a 
sinful  propensity  before  there  is  sin,  and  of  making 
God  the  author  of  that  propensity.  And  yet  there  is  a 
further  difficulty  in  thus  accounting  for  a  change  of 
volition  and  character.  The  theory  is  utterly  suicidal. 
If  propensity  is  the  only  parent  of  emotion  or  volition, 
it  surely  will  beget  its  like,  and  change  is  impossible. 
A  being  created  holy  must  be  always  holy,  and  one 
become  sinful  always  sinful.  Angels  could  never  have 
sinned,  or  Adam  apostatized,  nor  can  man  repent.  If 
propensity  is  the  unyielding  law  of  choice,  then  charac- 
ter is  stereotyped  for  eternity  in  the  universe.  What 
shall  change  it?  Objective  truth  cannot,  by  this  theory, 
or  any  motive-influence  from  without,  and  propensity 
will  not:  its  force  is  in  the  direction  of  the  past,  and 
forever  homogeneous  in  character.     What,  on  this  law 


SPIRIT  S   INFLUENCES. 


358^ 


of  change,  could  have  influenced  angels  to  sin?  All 
their  history,  habits  and  propensities,  for  an  accumula- 
tion of  ages,  we  know  not  how  long,  were  on  the  side 
of  holiness.  How  could  they  sin  except  against  propen- 
sity, and  through  motive-influences  otherwise  derived  ? 
God  surely  did  not  deprive  them  of  the  benefit  of  that 
long  experience,  and  arbitrarily  annihilate  their  holy 
propensities,  and  prove  so  false  to  himself  as  to  create 
within  them,  by  some  act  of  inscrutable  sovereignty,  a 
sinful  propensity,  which  should  lay  in  them  the  founda- 
tion of  wi'ong  action,  and  change  their  destiny  to  des- 
pair. Nor  could  our  first  parents  have  apostatized  from 
the  motive-influence  of  propensity.  They  had  always 
beep  holy.  Their  history,  habits,  and  inclinations,  were 
on  the  side  of  a  happy  obedience ;  and  propensities  are 
not  suicidal,  if  theories  are  sometimes.  How  came  that 
change  ?  One  thing  is  certain,  the  theory  we  here  con- 
trovert] does  not  account  for  it ;  and  more,  the  fact 
of  such  a  change,  in  such  circumstances,  controverts  the 
theory,  and  scatters  it  to  the  winds. 

Changes  of  mind  and  character,  in  the  matter  of  our 
relations  to  God,  doubtless  occur,  as  they  do  on  other 
subjects,  so  far  as  the  order  of  process  and  the  philosophic 
of  the  change  are  concerned;  viz.,  by  the  presence  of 
considerations  and  influences  adapted  to  produce  them. 
A  change  of  mental  action  otherwise  wrought,  would  be 
destitute  of  intelligence,  of  intellectual  virtue,  or  moral 
responsibility. 

We  are  aware  that  the  advocates  ot  the  theoiy  here^ 
coa-SL  lered,  are  accustomed  to  view  the  fall  of  Adam 
and  the  angels  as  utter  mysteries,  to  which  no  resort 
23 


3.54  spirit's  influences. 

can  be  had,  and  no  analogies  traced,  in  investigating 
the  laws  of  mind,  and  the  facts  of  human  history  ;  and 
that  they  may  be  shocked  at  any  reference  to  those 
apostasies,  in  treating  of  the  ordinary  laws  of  human 
conduct,  as  though  such  reference  were  quite  profane. 
We  confess  that  we  have  little  sympathy  with  such  a  dis- 
claimer. Is  it  so,  that  a  fact  "which  brought  death 
into  the  world,  and  all  our  wo,"  through  which  the  race 
has  lapsed,  and  needs  recovery,  is  utterly  inscrutable  ? 
Do  either  the  Bible  or  enlightened  pliilosophy  utter  this 
caveat,  or  is  it  rather  the  resort  of  defective  theories, 
and  untenable  positions  in  the  science  of  mind  ? 

The  considerations  inducing  a  change  of  volition  and 
character  in  the  first  woman  are  on  record ;  and  .we 
venture  to  affirm,  that  no  change  in  the  voluntary  state 
of  the  will  has  since,  or  ever  ivill  occur,  except  on 
analogous  principles. 

The  incipient  eiTor  in  the  view  we  controvert,  con- 
sists in  identifying  ^r()pe7?^%  with  i\\Q  predominant  motive 
in  choice  ;  than  which  a  more  subtle  petitio  principii,  or 
disastrous  confounding  of  things  in  themselves  distinct, 
does  not  often  occur  in  investigating  the  principles  of 
mental  science.  If  previously  formed  propensity  is 
identical  with  what  Edwards  meant  by  "the  greatest 
apparent  good,"  and  must  be,  of  course,  the  dominant 
element  of  the  existent  volition  or  choice,  then  indeed 
is  there  an  end  of  the  question,  if  not  of  choosing  also. 
But  such  an  issue  mistakes  the  relative  place  of  propen- 
sity, disposition,  inclination,  or  desire,  as  originated 
phenomena  of  the  mind.  They  are  rather  its  resultant 
than  its  inceptive  states,     They  are  rather  the  accretions 


spirit's  influences.  355 

of  its  history  in  the  direction  of  them,  than  the  founda- 
tion of  that  history;  though,  when  formed,  they  tend 
to  propagate  and  confirm  that  history.  They  follow 
the  law  of  habit,  and  are  broken  up  in  the  same  way. 
We  do  not  desire  that,  concerning  which  we  are  no 
way  informed.  The  appetite  of  the  drunkard  comes  by 
the  use  of  strong  drink ;  a  murderous  disposition  is  the 
result  of  a  training  to  sights  of  blood  and  slaughter — 
and  a  special  j^ropensity  of  any  kind  is  usually  traceable 
to  an  early  history  in  the  direction  of  it. 

Propensities  and  biases  once  originated,  doubtless 
have  influence  on  the  successive  voluntary  states  of  the 
mind.  But  it  is  a  motive-influence  in  respect  to  those 
states — nor  is  it  the  only,  nor  is  it,  of  necessity,  the 
strongest  motive-influence  on  the  will  Jfor  the  existent 
volition.  We  are  not  thus  constrained  to  a  continuity 
of  voluntary  states  of  mind,  in  accordance  with  pre- 
viously indulged  propensity.  The  primary  idea  in  the 
doctrine  of  choice,  involves  a  contrariety  of  motives 
before  the  will,  or  the  liability  thereto.  The  will  may 
follow  those  motives  which  are  antagonistical  to  habit, 
or  long-cherished  desire  or  propensity,  innate  or  ac- 
quired. Objective  motives,  coming  in  through  the  con- 
stituted channels  of  the  mind,  act  immediately  on  the 
will,  and  in  the  direction  of  their  nature.  Whatever 
influence  they  have,  is  sui  generis :  it  may  be  the  strong- 
est, and  the  will  is  inherently  susceptible  of  being 
moved,  and  acting  either  way.  In  respect  to  man  now, 
propensity,  innate  or  otherwise,  constitutes  not  the  only 
gi'ound  of  choice  or  motive  thereto,  nor  is  the  will 
necessarily  enslaved  to  lawless  passion.     Objective  truth 


356  spirit's  influences. 

may  present  its  claims ;  reason  may  come  in  with  state- 
ments, arguments  and  grounds  of  action,  counter  to  the 
pleadings  of  propensity  and  desire ;  truth  may  fasten 
on  the  conscience,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  strike  convic- 
tion into  the  soul,  and  thus  form  a  motive  to  right  ac- 
tion which  shall  outweigh  the  suggestions  of  appetite 
and  passion,  and  gain  the  will  against  them. 

Change  is  an  attribute  of  finite  beings.  They  are 
capable  of,  and  liable  to  change  from  good  to  bad,  or 
bad  to  god.  This  is  implied  in  the  doctrine  of  proba- 
tion, and  in  all  the  instructions  and  motives  we  use  for 
influencing  childhood  or  riper  years.  Changes  occur  in 
the  minds  and  courses  of  men  in  relation  to  the  matters 
of  this  life, — in  questions  of  prudence,  politics,  and 
morals,  but  always  in  view  of  considerations  inducing 
them.  Thus  is  it  in  religion  :  a  man  is  brought  to  re- 
pentance, through  considerations  adapted  to  produce 
repentance.  The  commerce  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  with 
the  reason,  and  conscience,  and  intelligence  of  the  soul. 
It  has  no  direct  communings  with  sin  or  sinful  propen- 
sity, but  comes  in,  with  the  armory  of  heaven,  to  help 
the  will  against  their  suggestions  and  motive-influence ; 
as  a  benevolent  agent  in  aid  of  reason,  and  conscience, 
and  the  truth,  and  the  constituent  elements  of  the  soul, 
against  sinful  propensity  and  habit,  original  or  acquired, 
and  all  the  incentives  to  wrong  action  from  the  hered- 
itary degeneracy  of  the  race.  It  comes  to  give  ascen- 
dency to  truth,  reason  and  right  in  the  will,  and  induce 
its  action  in  accordance  therewith  ;  and  this,  too,  though 
it  be  on  the  field  of  strife,  and  in  the  presence  of  induce- 
ments to  wrong  action,  and  of  the  strong  biases  of 


spirit's  influences.  357 

*  hitherto  indulged  sin :  and  thus  by  the  introduction  of  a 
new,  and  paramount,  and  growing  life,  in  accordance 
with  the  requirement  of  God,  casting  out  the  old  man, 
which  is  corrupt,  with  his  lusts,  and  gradually  and  pro- 
gressively gaining  an  habitual  ascendency  over  all  that 
has  been  wrong  in  previous  histoiy,  habit,  and  propen- 
sity ;  and  eventually  gaining  the  whole  man  for  God. 
The  intimations  of  consciousness,  and  the  experience  of 
Christians,  are  challenged  for  the  verification  of  this 
statement ;  thus  showing  that  the  work  of  the  Spirit  is 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  mind ;  that  neither  the 
doctrine  of  responsibility,  nor  any  law  of  mental  action, 
nor  change  of  action  as  seen  elsewhere,  is  outraged  or 
belied  in  the  change  which  religion  contemplates,  but 
that  its  nature  and  results  are  analogous  to  the  recorded 
and  known  history  of  mind  on  any  other  subjects. 

The  agency  of  the  Spirit  on  the  depravities  of  the 
heart  is  indirect  and  consequential.  By  going  with  the 
truth  of  God  to  the  constituent  elements  and  suscep- 
tibilities of  the  mind,  and  gaining  for  God  the  predom- 
inant motive  in  the  will,  and  the  consequent  right  action 
of  the  will  in  repentance,  or  faith,  or  love,  or  whatever 
may  be  the  form  of  the  incipient  right  affection,  volition 
and  action,  it  breaks  the  empire  of  sin ;  it  begins  the 
demolition  of  Satan's  throne  in  the  heart.  By  the 
Spirit's  efficient  agency,  the  will  acts  right  in  respect  to 
God  and  religion,  though  it  never  did  before.  A  new 
and  right  affection,  through  divine  agency,  is  born  of 
.  the  constituent  powers  of  the  mind  and  will ;  a  new 
and  counter  life  to  the  past  begins,  which,  by  the  prom- 
ise of  God,  the  law  of  habit,  and  the  continued  agency 


358  spirit's  influences. 

of  the  Spirit,  is  sustained  and  prosecuted  with  increas-. 
ing  power  and  triumph  against  sinful  propensity  and 
lusts,  until  at  length  their  lingering  influence  and  effects 
are  all  uprooted  from  the  soul,  and  the  intended  even- 
tual issue  of  the  Spirit  is  gained  in  the  full  and  perfect 
man  in  Christ  Jesus.  As  soon  as  the  first  right  exercise 
of  will  occurs,  it  may  be  affirmed  of  the  man  that  he  is 
converted,  regenerated,  born  again,  and  stands  to  God 
in  the  relation  of  a  child ;  and  as  soon  as  the  last  re- 
mains of  sinful  appetite  and  propensity  are  effectually 
and  finally  overcome  and  effixced,  and  all  wrong  action 
ceases  in  the  full  and  uninterrupted  energies  of  the  new 
life  in  Christ,  thus  begotten  and  thus  sustained,  may  it 
be  said  that  he  is  wholly  sanctified. 

6. — The  work  of  the  Spirit  in  the  premises,  is  of  the 
nature  of  an  influence.  Its  efficiency  is  at  the  point  of 
influencing  the  will,  and  inducing  that  voluntary  action 
in  man,  which  is  of  the  nature  of  obedience  to  God, 
and  thus  making  effectual,  upon  our  intelligent  and 
moral  nature,  the  reasons  why  we  should  repent,  believe 
the  Gospel,  and  obey  and  please  God.  The  Spirit  does 
not  repent,  believe,  or  love  in  our  stead.  It  does  not 
detract  from,  but  sustains  every  way  our  personal  obliga- 
tion, and  the  character  consequent  on  moral  action^ 
Repentance,  faith,  and  love,  are  truly  the  personal  and 
conscious  emotions  of  the  sinner  returning  to  God  ;  yet 
as  they  never  would  occur  without  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  as  they  do  occur  under  his  effectual,  successful 
agency  or  influence,  they  are  properly  styled  the  fruit 
of  the  Spirit,  and  the  sinner  is  said  to  be  "  born  of  the 
Spirit,"  and  "  the  love  of  God  to  be  shed  abroad  in  his 


spirit's  influences.  '  359 

heart,"  or  he  is  brought  to  love  God,  and  to  possess  the 
graces  of  the  Christian,  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  "While  i\\l 
the  emotion  and  voluntary  conduct  of  a  moral  agent, 
all  that  in  him  which  is  of  the  nature  of  obedience  or 
disobedience,  is  personally  and  responsibly  his,  he 
may  be  influenced  to  it  from  without.  Influences  from 
without,  from  good  or  bad  agents  visible  or  invisible, 
and  all  contributing  in  harmony  or  mingling  in  conflict 
to  form  the  predominant  subjective  motive,  or  ground 
of  choice,  do  not  destroy  the  personality  or  responsibil- 
ity of  that  movement  of  the  will.  As  the  mind  deter- 
mines itself  freely  under  motive-influence,  so  is  it  respon- 
sible for  its  moral  and  voluntary  states,  from  whatever 
quarter,  and  in  whatever  amount,  motive-influence 
comes.  We  are  daily  conversant  with  this  principle. 
We  hold  a  man  responsible  for  murder,  though,  in  the 
phraseology  of  the  law,  he  commits  it  "  under  the  insti- 
gation of  the  devil."  We  take  pains  to  influence  our 
fellow-men,  and  yet  hold  them  responsible  for  their 
moral  action  and  conduct  under  the  influences  thus  de- 
rived. Thus,  that  a  man  is  efiectually  influenced  to 
right  action  by  the  gi*acious  economy  of  the  Spirit,  sent 
down  to  his  help,  contravenes  no  law  of  mind,  nor  sub- 
tracts from  his  personal  responsibility  in  respect  to  all  in 
him  that  is  of  the  nature  of  obedience  or  disobedience 
to  the  requirements  of  God. 

7. — This  work  of  the  Spirit  is  in  accordance  with  the 
truth  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  His  agency  is  co- 
ordinate with  the  truth  of  God.  His  aim  and  influence 
is  to  make  truth  effectual  on  the  voluntary  principle  in 
men,  and  to  bring  them  responsibly  and  cheerfully  into 


.    860  N  SPIRIT*S    INFLUENCES. 

obedience  to  the  requirements  of  God.  We  are  "  be- 
jgotten  through  the  gospel."  "  The  word  of  God"  is 
"  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,"  and  ''  effectually  worketh  in 
them  that  believe.^' 

8. — The  influences  of  the  Spirit  in  the  premises  are 
(Analogous  to  influences  otherwise  derived  for  the  action 
of  mind  ;  they  are  moral  in  their  natm-e,  and  adapted  to 
act  on  the  moral  susceptibilities  of  our  being.  They 
are  designed  to  move  the  will  in  accordance  with  truth ; 
they  embody  considerations  to  this  end.  The  instruc- 
tions of  nature,  of  provideiace,  and  of  revealed  truth, 
are  brought  under  contribution  by  the  Spirit  for  this 
issue.  The  shining  orbs  of  night,  the  death  of  a  friend, 
or  the  faithful  appeals  of  the  pulpit  in  some  favored 
moment,  may  be  tlie  honored  instrument  he  uses  to 
convict  of  sin,  and  challenge  the  soul  for  God.  The 
process,  we  may  believe,  is  one  inherently  adapted  to 
move  mind,  and  in  accordance  with  its  nature  and 
susceptibilities  as  related  to  objects  and  influences  from 
without,  and  which,  for  want  of  better  phraseology,  we 
term  moral  influence,  and  not  physical  or  miraculous — 
an  influence  indicated  and  characterized  by  the  nature 
of  the  work  done,  and  the  means  of  doing  it,  rather 
ithan  otherwise. 

An  emphatic  passage,  and  one  throwing  much  light 
upon  the  point  of  the  discussion  at  which  we  have 
arrived,  occurs  in  John  16  :  8 — "  And  when  he  (the 
-Spirit)  is  come,  he  shall  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  of  right- 
eousness, and  of  judgment  /"  and  for  it  we  must  ask  some 
special  attention. 

An  accurate  commentator  of  our  own  country  (Barnes 


spirit's  influences.  361 

in  loco)  here  uses  the  following  language :  "  The  word 
translated  *  reprove/  means  commonly  to  demonstrate 
by  argument,  to  prove,  to  persuade  any  one  to  do  a 
thing  by  presenting  reasons.  It  hence  means  also  to 
convince  of  any  thing,  and  particularly  to  convince  of 
crime.  This  is  its  meaning  here.  He  will  convince  or 
convict  the  world  of  sin,  &c.  That  is,  he  will  so  apply 
the  truths  of  God  to  men's  own  minds,  as  to  convince 
them  by  fair  and  sufficient  arguments  that  they  are  sin- 
ners.    This  is  the  nature  of  conviction  always." 

So  the  upright  and  candid  Scott,  upon  the  passage, 
and  the  general  subject  of  the  nature  of  the  Spirit's 
work  which  it  presents:  "When  He  shall  come.  He 
shall  reprove,  or  rather  convince  the  world  of,  or  con- 
cerning sin,  &c.  The  preposition  here,  properly  signi- 
fies concerning,  and  this  rendering  seems  to  throw  much 
light  upon  the  sudject.  The  principal  meaning  of  the 
word  seems  to  refer,"  he  adds,  "  to  the  general  internal 
operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
men,  when  He  leads  them  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  for 
salvation.  He  deeply  convinces  them  of  many  things 
concerning  the  evil  desert  of  sin,  and  the  sinfulness  of 
numberless  thoughts,  words  and  actions,  and  omissions, 
which  before  they  had  scarcely  thought  of;  especially  he 
detects  the  sinfulness  of  their  own  conduct — their  sup- 
posed virtues  and  their  hearts — by  discovering  the  gloiy 
of  God  to  their  souls,  showing  them  their  obligations^ 
and  relations  to  Him,  turning  their  reflections  to  the 
spuituality  of  the  law — to  the  hateful  nature  of  trans- 
gression—to their  own  past  lives — to  their  present  be- 
havior, and  to  their  inward  thoughts,  desires  and  mo- 


362  '    spirit's  influences. 

tives;  and  thus  the  veil  of  ignorance,  pride  and  par- 
tiality being  removed,  they  are  brought  without  reserve 
to  condemn  themselves,  and  to  plead  guilty  before  God." 
In  similar  language  he  proceeds  for  more  than  a  column 
of  his  sensible  commentary ;  and  we  have  extended  the 
quotation  thus  far  that  it  may  fully  appear  how  this 
subject  lay  in  the  mind  of  a  writer  so  eminently  pious 
and  practical  as  was  Scott.  But  every  Christian  pastor 
who,  in  revivals  of  religion,  or  at  other  times,  has  at- 
tended the  sinner  over  that  transition  period  from  na- 
ture to  grace,  can,  if  he  has  discriminated  at  all  upon 
the  subject,  bear  the  same  testimony.  Conviction,  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  has  at  eveiy  step  been 
intelhgent,  and  in  view  of  truth,  and  usually  deep  and 
marked,  in  proportion  to  the  cleai*ness  and  distinctness 
of  the  dispensation  of  truth  under  which  the  subject 
has  lived,  until  it  issues  in  repentance  and  reconcilia- 
tion to  God.  At  first,  perhaps,  the  fear  of  wrath  has 
awakened  the  concern  of  the  sinner,  and  the  preroga- 
tives of  God  troubled  his  soul.  But  further  thought 
and  progress  convince  him  that  God  is  right  and  His 
claims  just,  and  that  his  own  course  must  be  condemned 
even  at  the  bar  of  his  own  conscience.  Sin  grows  more 
sinful  in  his  view,  and  the  record  of  his  delinquencies 
more  and  more  fearful.  God,  the  law,  reason,  truth, 
conscience,  all  bring  in  the  verdict  of  condemnation  up- 
on him;  self-righteous  hopes  disappear,  and  he  stands 
self-condemned  and  helpless  on  grounds  of  law ;  guilt 
presses  on  his  spirit ;  and  weighed  down  by  a  sense  of 
sin  and  ill-desert,  and  of  his  utterly  hopeless  condition 
while  out  of  Christ,  he  sinks  for  mercy  at  the  foot  of 


spirit's  influences.  363 

the  cross.  As  a  rational  agent,  he  acknowledges  his 
sin,  and  casts  himself  on  the  provision  of  grace  in  the 
Gospel.  He  repents,  and  from  reasons  inherently  adapt- 
ed to  induce  repentance :  he  believes,  in  view  of  truths 
appropriate  to  that  affection:  he  loves  God,  from  the 
apprehension  of  His  loveliness :  he  submits  to  God,  from 
considerations  suited  to  induce  submission.  A  com'se 
of  right  action  commences  in  the  will  in  view  of  the 
truths  which  urge  it,  and  in  the  legitimate  exercises  of 
the  proper  functions  of  his  being  as  a  responsible  crea- 
ture of  God. 

Thus  have  the  phenomena  of  conversion  often  pre- 
sented themselves,  and  thus  must  they  have  fallen  under 
the  notice  of  the  experienced  pastor. 

The  process  under  the  conduct  of  the  Spirit  is  every 
way  intelligent  and  rational ; — open  as  daylight,  as  the 
Bible  designed  it  should  be,  on  a  subject  the  most  prac- 
tical and  important,  and  the  most  seriously  submitted  to 
our  individual  responsibility  and  experience,  of  any  with 
which  the  human  mind  is  conversant ; — and  one  which 
should  not  be  encumbered  with  the  phraseology  of  the 
dark  ages,  to  make  it  utterly  enigmatic  and  unintelligi- 
ble. The  change  is  effected  as  the  mind  is  changed 
upon  any  other  subject  or  concern,  as  to  any  question  in 
mental  philosophy  appertaining  to  it.  It  is  through  the 
prevalence  of  considerations  suited  to  it — by  gaining 
the  predominance  of  motive  thereto,  through  reason  and 
conscience,  and  the  use  of  truth ;  thus  gaining  over  the 
will,  and  thus  securing  the  voluntaiy  action  of  the  man, 
in  the  right  direction.  It  is  by  leading  the  sinner  to  do 
just  what  he  ought  to  do  of  himself,  and  just  what  he 


364  spirit's  influences. 

has  constituent  powers  of  mind  to  do ;  just  what  his  in- 
telligence and  the  truth  call  upon  him  to  do,  and  just 
what  he  never  would  do,  after  all,  but  for  the  agency  of 
the  Spirit  sen£  down  in  his  behalf.  The  greatness  of 
the  change,  in  its  fact  or  results,  does  not  take  it  out  of 
the  same  category  of  other  changes  of  mind  or  will. 
The  benevolent  economy  of  the  Spirit  therein  does  not 
remove  it ;  we  cannot  conceive  of  an  intelligent  and  re- 
sponsible change  otherwise  wrought.  The  Bible  and 
common  sense  place  it  here.  Every  exhortation  from  the 
pulpit  and  the  press,  and  all  experience  together,  say  it 
is  here,  and  expect  the  reign  of  sinful  habit  and  propen- 
sity to  l)e  broken  up,  and  theu-  influence  and  eflects  to 
be  progressively  worn  from  the  soul,  by  the  expulsive 
power  of  a  new  affection,  and  the  growing  energies  of 
a  new  and  divine  life  thus  commenced  and  sustained  by 
the  Spirit  of  God. 

We  add  the  following  remarks. 

1. — The  work  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  department  under 
consideration,  is,  in  its  nature,  resistible  by  the  human  mind. 
All  moral  influences  are.  This  is  implied  in  the  veiy  na- 
ture of  choice.  The  privilege  of  selecting  between  two 
objects,  involves  the  power  of  selecting  either.  Not 
that  two  and  variant  volitions  can  occur  at  once ;  but 
that  when  two  objects  or  courses  of  action  lie  before  the 
mind,  it  can  select  either.  This  is  the  invariable  show- 
ing of  consciousness.  It  is  involved  in  our  honest  con- 
victions concerning  responsible  action,  and  no  sophistry 
in  the  world  can  dislodge  the  impression.  The  guilty 
man  feels  that  he  need  not  have  committed  that  deed  of 
death,  which  is  to  send  him  to  the  gallows,  but  that  he 


spirit's  influences.  365 

had,  at  the  time  of  willing  it,  the  pow6r  of  contrary 
choice ;  and  every  attempt  you  make  to  convince  him 
that  he  had  not,  only  hardens  his  heart,  or  tm*ns  the 
reprobations  of  his  outraged  conscience  back  in  indig- 
nant scorn  upon  you,  as  the  apologist  of  his  crimes  and 
the  tempter  to  his  remorse. 

Power  of  will  correlates  not  with  motive-influence, 
but  lies  in  the  intelligence  back  of  it.  Motive  does  not 
create  our  moral  powers,  though  the  condition  of  their 
exercise.  They  are  the  same  in  the  presence  or  absence 
of  motives  to.  influence  them.  We  may  not  logically 
infer  that  a  man's  acts  of  will,  in  "  the  appropriate  cir- 
cumstances of  his  being,"  could  not  have  been  other- 
wise than  they  have  been; — that  because  he  has  not 
acted  diflTerently,  under  the  motives  which  have  attend- 
ed him,  therefore  he  could  not.  Modify  such  a  position 
as  you  will,  and  it  contains  the  essence  of  fatalism.  It 
is  saying,  that  any  sinner  who  has  not  repented,  could 
not; — that  Christians  cannot  fall  from  grace,  because 
they  do  not ; — that  men  cannot  be  perfect,  because  they 
are  not; — that  Adam  or  the  sinning  angels  could  not 
have  maintained  their  integrity,  because  they  did  not; 
nor  could  the  history  of  any  being  in  the  universe  be 
otherwise  than  it  has  been.  It  annihilates  the  discrep- 
ancy between  the  is  and  the  can  he  of  human  conduct. 
But  common  sense  brings  in  a  different  verdict  on  the 
subject.  It  holds  a  man  competent  to  do  right,  what- 
ever may  be  his  temptations  tc^do  wrong.  Though  mo- 
tives run  mountain-high  to  commit  murder,  it  asserts  his 
power  to  withhold  his  hand ;  and  every  man  feels  the 
irrepressible  conviction,  that,  in  a  thousand  instances, 


366  spirit's  influences. 

situated  just  as  he  was,  he  could  have  done  differently 
from  what  he  did.  This  is  an  integral  element  in  the 
feeling  of  regret  and  remorse ;  efface  it,  and  you  extract 
the  anguish  of  the  worm  that  never  dies.  No  respon- 
sible being  was  ever  placed  where  he  could  not  do  right. 
The  power  of  both  right  or  wrong  action  is  inherently, 
and  under  all  circumstances,  an  attribute  of  all  amen- 
able to  law.  Any  man  can  repent  of  his  wi'ong,  and 
do  what  reasoii,  conscience  and  truth  require.  He  can, 
whether  he  will  or  no.  Deprive  him  of  his  power,  and 
he  is  no  longer  a  moral  agent.  The  discipline  of  child- 
hood is  on  this  principle ; — the  laws  of  society  and  the 
laws  of  God.  The  existence  of  such  a  power  is  pre- 
supposed in  every  effort  to  induce  its  exercise,  on  the 
part  of  our  earthly  or  immortal  relations.  It  is  the  in- 
telligent basis  of  the  Spmt's  influences,  and  of  all  pre- 
sentation* of  motives  for  obedience  to  law,  or  conformity 
with  God.  The  conventional  distinction  asserted,  be- 
tween natural  and  moral  power,  has  been  of  little  avail 
with  the  practical  convictions  of  men.  The  biblical 
phraseology  from  which  this  distinction  may  have  de- 
rived its  origin,  does  not  sustain  it,  as  a  generic  classifi- 
cation of  science,  in  your  occidental  languages.  The  Sav- 
iour, in  undoubted  reference  to  the  subject  in  hand,  said, 
"Ye  will  not  come  unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life." 
Convince  any  unlettered  man  that  he  has  not  power  to 
repent  of  sin  and  do  right,  and  you  do  but  undermine  his 
sense  of  obligation  to  repent  and  do  right.  Consistency 
teaches  him  that  he  may  as  well  repent,  as  take  accepta- 
bly any  incipient  steps  thereto,  and  that  all  exhortation 
is  misplaced,  if  he  may  not  do  just  what  God  requires. 


spirit's  influences.  367 

On  the  principle  above  elucidated  we  assert,  that 
power  of  will  does  not  correlate  with  moral  influence, 
and  of  course  not  with  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  con- 
version. A  man  is  converted  not  because  he  cannot  re- 
sist the  Spirit,  but  because  he  voluntarily  yields  to  his 
influences.  A  Christian  makes  progress  in  sanctifi ca- 
tion, not  because  he  cannot  "grieve  the  Spirit,"  and  has 
not  temptations  thereto ;  but  because  he  freely  follows 
the  leadings  of  the  Spirit.  Some  are  referred  to  in  the 
Bible,  as  those  who  "  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost :" 
believers  are  exhorted  not  to  gTieve  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
all  warned  of  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  concern- 
ing which  there  is  no  forgiveness. 

The  classification  of  the  Spirit's  work  in  the  theology 
of  men,  into  common  and  special  influences,  has  arisen 
out  of  the  eflTects  produced  of  success  with  the  sinner  in 
the  one  case,  and  the  failure  of  it  in  the  other. 

This  supposed  distinction  assumes  that  all  cases  are 
of  equal  obduracy,  or  that  the  Spirit's  influence  cannot 
be  increased  in  amount  without  being  difierent  in  kind ; 
but  of  neither  alternative  is  there  proof.  Facts,  under 
the  ministration  of  the  gospel,  look  the  other  way ;  and 
the  Saviour  says,  "  Woe  unto  thee,  Chorazin  I  woe  unto 
thee,  Bethsaida!  for  if  the  mighty  works  which  were 
done  in  you,  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  they 
would  have  repented  long  ago,  sitting  in  sackcloth  and 
ashes."  So  also,  in  the  philosophic  language  of  Luke, 
"The  seed  is  the  word;  those  by  the  way-side  are  they 
that  hear ;  then  cometh  the  devil  and  taketh  away  the 
word  out  of  their  hearts,  lest  they  should  believe  and 
be  saved." 


368  spirit's  influences. 

The  purposes  of  God,  touching  the  formation  of  mor- 
al character  and  its  issues,  are  accomplished,  not  by 
irresistible  and  irresponsible  influences,  but  in  the  com- 
pass of  a  probationary  providence,  which  secures  des- 
tined results  consistently  with  the  laws  of  mind,  and  its 
voluntary  and  responsible  action. 

2. — The  doctrine  of  the  Spirit  does  not  disparage  the 
use  of  appropriate  means,  for  giving  success  to  objective 
truth  on  the  minds  of  men,  but  stands  in  intelligent 
connection  and  correspondence  with  them. 

All  the  laws  of  influencing  the  will,  are  in  as  full  play, 
on  the  subject  of  religion,  as  on  any  other  whatever. 
The  superadded  and  benevolent  economy  of  the  Spirit 
does  not  confound  and  embarrass  them,  but  is  a  helper 
to  all,  co-ordinate  and  direct.  A  sound  mind  and  a 
good  heart  in  the  preacher — wide  research  and  accurate 
theology — fair  logic  and  cogent  reasoning,  making  full 
use  of  the  truth — acceptable  words  and  happy  illustra- 
tions— good  rhetoric,  and  a  wise  regard  to  time,  place, 
and  circumstances — defined  aims,  and  a  judicious  and 
'skilful  use  of  the  appropriate  means  of  conviction — 
striving  after  just  that  in  the  hearer  which  God  requires, 
depending  on  the  co-operating  agency  of  the  Spirit,  in 
direct  and  immediate  connection  with  the  truth  uttered, 
and  the  eflTort  made. 

Lack  of  expectation  unnerves  the  efibrts  of  the 
preacher ;  an  impression  of  the  fortuitous  presence  of 
the  Spirit  neutralizes  his  engagedness.  He  is  tempted 
to  regard  the  dispensation  of  the  truth  in  the  light  of  a 
merely  positive  institution,  and  as  having  no  inherent 
and  intelligent  connection  with  the  results  it  contem- 


spirit's  influences.  369 

plates,  and  to  administer  the  word  at  the  required  sea- 
son, hoping  that,  as  God  has  said  it,  he  will  at  some 
period,  and  in  some  inappreciable  way,  dispose  of  the 
old  propensity  in  the  hearer,  and  '•'•  implanf  a  new  one, 
and  thus  give  him  "  an  ability''  to  be  influenced  by  the 
considerations  presented.  This  antinomian  dependence 
on  the  Spirit  extracts  all  vitality  from  the  pulpit,  and  all 
sense  of  du-ect  responsibility  to  truth  from  the  hearer, 
and  reduces  the  administration  of  the  word  to  an- 
ordinance  which  is  but  one  remove  from  the  "genu- 
flexions" and  "baptismal  regenerations"  of  the  utter 
formalist  in  religion.  Truth,  in  such  relations,  is  shorn 
of  the  intrinsic  value  conceded  to  it  on  other  subjects  ; 
the  laws  of  conviction  are  outraged,  and  results  antici- 
pated in  no  intelligent  connection  with  means  used  or 
light  received. 

3. — The  pulpit  should  hold  intimate  conmunion  with 
the  reason  and  conscience.  They  are  God's  image  in 
man.  They  are  of  right  the  reigning  principles  of  the 
soul,  and  the  great  efibrt  should  be  to  make  them  so  in 
fact.  They  accord  with  objective  truth  in  religion,  and 
are  its  medium  of  access  to  the  will.  They  endorse  the 
requisitions  of  law,  and  are  the  handmaids  of  the  Spirit 
in  our  submission  to  God.  It  is  through  their  commerce 
with  tnith  that  he  gains  over  the  voluntary  principle  in 
us,  against  the  pleadings  of  propensity  and  all  the 
strong  impulses  of  our  previous  history,  and  brings  us 
under  law  to  Christ.  Conviction  of  sin  is  a  direct  and 
befitting  feeling,  in  accordance  with  the  light  in  the 
understanding.  Penitence,  faith,  love,  and  all  right 
affections,  occur  through  the  truth  brought  to  the  intel- 
24 


370  spirit's  influences. 

4 

ligence  of  the  soul.  That  preaching  will  do  little  good 
which  does  not  commend  itself  to  the  conscience  of  the 
hearer.  It  may  be  sentimental  and  imaginative ;  it  may 
cater  to  the  passions  of  men  ;  it  may  strive  to  quadrate 
its  arguments  ^vith  the  element  of  selfishness  in  them, 
but  it  will  be  like  David  in  the  armor  of  Saul,  it  will 
not  stir  the  giant  principles  of  the  soul  which  correlate 
with  truth,  obligation,  and  obedience,  or  be  much 
honored  of  the  Spirit  in  the  conversion  of  men  to 
Christ.  Leviathan  is  not  so  tamed.  The  perfections 
of  God,  His  righteousness,  the  unyielding  features  of 
His  moral  government,  and  the  cross  of  Christ  as  sus- 
taining the  claims  of  law  and  justice,  while  it  provides 
a  method  of  recovery,  must  be  taken  to  the  reason  and 
conscience  of  the  sinner,  and  reliance,  under  God,  be 
placed  here,  for  gaining  the  ascendency  in  the  will,  and 
inducing  the  obedience  which  the  gospel  requires.  As 
sin  consists  in  the  wrong  action  of  this  faculty,  so  does 
virtue  in  its  right  action  as  guided  by  reason  and  tnith  5 
and  the  position  of  Dr.  Taylor  is  sustained  by  conscious- 
ness, when  in  the  controversy  with  Dr.  Spring  he  says, 
in  substance,  that  regeneration  takes  place  in  the  honest 
and  right  use  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  that  the 
conversion  and  return  of  the  sinner  to  God  is  character- 
ized by  the  exercise  of  the  legitimate  principles  of  His 
being,  although  the  statement  is  encumbered  with  cer- 
tain views  on  the  subject  of  self-love  not  needfully  con- 
nected with  it. 

4. — ^The  conversion  of  sinners  should  be  no  matter 
of  marvel.  This  event  should  not  be  placed  among  the 
miraculous  and  unaccountable  dispensations  of  God,  or 


spikit's  influences.  371 

movements  of  the  human  mind.  The  view  often  given 
of  this  matter  is  too  recondite  and  enigmatical  for  com- 
mon apprehension.  It  is  too  much  wrapt  up  in  the 
abstinise  web  of  a  technical  theology,  to  be  understood 
or  appreciated  in  the  ordinaiy  walks  of  life.  For  fear 
of  Scylla  we  strike  on  Chaiybdis.  We  would  not  be 
thought  to  hold  fellowship  with  Arminius,  and  we  sink 
in  the  lethean  waters  of  antinomianism. 

The  subject  is,  however,  a  practical  one.  God  com- 
mends it  to  the  understanding,  responsibility,  and  ex- 
perience of  men.  Why  should  the  return  of  the  sinner 
to  God  be  deemed  a  strange  phenomenon,  admitting  of 
no  intelligent  solution  from  the  usual  laws  of  the  human 
mind  ?  Change  of  conduct  and  character  we  know  to 
be  incidental  to  finite  beings.  Entirely  holy  beings 
have  become  sinful,  and  why  should  it  be  thought  un- 
accountable that  entirely  sinful  beings  should  become 
holy  ?  The  Saviour  evidently  viewed  the  new  birth  as 
a  first  truth  in  religion — one  of  those  earthly  things  so 
obviously  intuitive  as  to  be  even  to  the  Jew  no  matter 
of  marvel.  True,  the  influences  of  the  Spirit  involved 
therein  are  impalpable,  but  are  easily  traced,  like  the 
wind  of  the  desert,  by  the  effects  produced.  The  re- 
pentance of  a  sinner  is,  indeed,  the  highest  reason.  It 
is  a  responsible  creature  breaking  off  from  his  sins — 
ceasing  to  do  wrong,  and  beginning  to  do  right,  from 
appropriate  considerations,  made  effectual  thereto  by 
the  super-added  and  benevolent  dispensation  of  the 
•Spirit.  The  occurrence  of  the  first  right  affection  is  no 
more  unintelligible  than  that  of  the  fifth  or  seventh. 
The  recovery  of  the  sinner  is  no  more  marvellous  than 


872  spirit's  influences. 

that  of  the  backslider.  The  occurrence  of  a  new  affec- 
tion is  through  the  operation  of  the  same  laws  of  mind, 
as  the  recurrence  of  an  old  and  suspended  one.  The 
difference  is  rather  one  of  degrees.  The  total  eclipse 
of  the  sun  is  of  the  same  nature  as  his  partial  eclipse, 
and  from  the  same  cause  ;  the  illumination  of  a  sphere, 
like  that  of  any  part  of  it ;  the  commencing  twilight  of 
the  morning,  like  the  full-orbed  day.  So  the  beginning 
of  holiness,  in  the  experience  of  a  man,  is  of  the  same 
economy  with  his  progressive  sanctification  and  eventual 
perfectness  in  Christ. 

5 — On  the  principles  of  this  article  impenitent  men 
are  intelligently  held  obligated  to  do  just  that  which  God 
requires.  To  preach  defect  of  power  and  susceptibility, 
does  but  deaden  a  sense  of  obligation  to  right  action. — 
The  mind  has  in  some  way  to  recover  itself  from  the 
opiate  administered,  before  it  regains  its  wonted  feeling 
of  accountableness  to  the  statements  of  objective  truth. 
Exhortations  from  the  quarter  here  referred  to,  usually 
have  little  respect  from  the  impenitent  portion  of  a  con- 
gregation. They  are  regarded  as  rather  the  pastime  of 
the  hour,  or  the  professional  exorcisms  of  the  pulpit, 
than  as  really  intended  for  what  the  words  import;  and 
make  but  little  impression,  from  their  incompatibility 
with  the  known  sentiments  of  him  who  utters  them  on 
kindred  subjects. 

The  helplessness  of  man  comes  rather  from  the  direc- 
tion of  his  relations  to  law  and  government,  than  of  his 
defective  powers.  "It  was  when  we  were  without 
strength  that  in  due  time  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly:* 
The  remedy  of  the  gospel  is  here  put  in  contrast  with 


spirit's  influences.  373 

the  claims  of  law.  It  was  man,  as  the  victim  of  violated 
law — powerless  in  the  grasp,  and  under  the  curse  of 
avenging  justice — that  Christ  came  to  redeem,  and  not 
as  one  bereft  of  the  attributes  of  a  responsible  being. 

The  pulpit  should  not  shrink  from  covering  the  full 
ground  of  the  sinner's  responsibility.  It  must  not 
advise  the  sinner  to  that  which  falls  short  of  an  essential  ' 
and  radical  change  of  character  and  relationship  to  God, 
on  the  principle  that  he  must  do  as  well  as  he  can  under 
the  old  disposition  and  propensity,  until  new  susceptibil- 
ities are  given  him,  from  which  he  can  act  right.  It 
must  not  instruct  him  to  read  his  Bible,  and  go  to 
church,  and  pray  for  a  new  heart,  on  the  ground  that 
he  cannot  now  repent,  and  in  penitence  obey  God,  and 
thus  without  more  delay  have  a  new  heart.  He  must 
not  be  counselled  to  go  on  in  the  use  of  appointed 
means,  "  waiting  for  converting  grace  ;"  this  would  but 
quiet  his  conscience,  and  throw  the  responsibility  of  the 
issue  elsewhere  than  on  himself.  No,  let  him  cease  to 
resist  the  Spirit,  and  obey  truth  and  his  conscience,  and 
he  will  be  saved  the  trouble  of  "  waiting  for  converting 
grace" — a  phrase  which  misplaces  all  the  relations  of  the 
subject.  Never  may  it  be  said  that  the  sinner  waits  for 
God  in  the  issue  here  contemplated.  His  remaining  a 
moment  longer  impenitent  is  his  sin  ;  it  is  in  resistance 
of  reason,  of  the  dictates  of  his  own  intelligence,  of  the 
authority  of  heaven,  and  of  that  very  provision  of  gi'ace 
which  is  appointed  to  reclaim  him  from  his  sins.  To 
advise  him  to  any  thing  short  of  repentance,  or  to  what 
does  not  involve  it,  on  the  ground  that  he  cannot  and 
ought  not  at  once  to  comply  with  the  essential  require- 


374  spirit's  influences. 

ments  of  God  to  repent  and  believe  the  gospel,  is  only 
to  take  his  part  in  his  sins — to  change  rebuke  to  pity, 
and  lose  sight  of  the  features  of  his  sinfulness,  in  a 
morbid  apprehension  ot  the  physical  disabilities  and 
calamity  of  his  position. 

The  man  who  can  pray  can  repent.  He  that  can  ac- 
ceptably ask  God  to  change  his  heart,  can  have  any 
other  right  affection,  and  yield  to  that  "  Spmt  of  grace" 
who  has  long,  it  may  be,  been  striving  to  bring  him  to 
repentance,  saying,  "  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  therein." 

Let  requisition,  then,  cover  the  full  ground  of  the  sin- 
ner's responsibilities.  Let  him  be  advised  to  rest  in  no 
half-way  house  to  the  city  of  refuge;  but  at  once,  in 
the  use  of  appointed  means,  to  be  a  penitent  man,  and 
possess  the  feelings  and  be  of  the  temper  which^God  re- 
quires, and  to  which  truth  and  conscience  prompt.  Of 
this  is  he  constituently  capable ;  in  nothing  short  of  this 
will  conscience  be  satisfied,  and  in  the  very  attitude  of 
compassing  this,  as  required,  does  he  comply  with  the 
movings  of  the  Spirit — cease  to  resist  his  influence,  and 
yield  to  the  helps  from  above  in  his  behalf  All  the  an- 
alogies of  truth  and  claims  of  God  are  pointing  him  to 
this  spot,  and  why  should  not  the  agencies  of  his  moral 
being  be  concentrated  upon  it?  To  bring  him  to  it,  and 
for  the  issue  decided  here,  the  Spirit  is  striving  with  him ; 
and  why  should  he  be  turned  aside  by  counsels  which 
meet  not  the  exigency  of  his  case,  and  which  may  be 
complied  with,  and  he  yet  remain  in  sin,  and  without 
forgiveness?  Why  should  he  be  instructed  to  rest  for 
a  moment  in  any  thing  short  of  those  affections  of  pen- 
itence, submission,  confidence  and  love,  which  are  the 


spirit's  influences.  375 

fruit  of  the  Spirit,  before  which  there  is  nothing  right 
in  the  state  of  the  affections,  and  in  which  are  contained 
the  first  essential  elements  of  return  to  God — the  very- 
inception  of  a  state  of  mind  and  character  which  meets 
the  terms  of  forgiveness  and  reconciliation?  As  the 
Spirit's  influences  bear  upon  this  point,  as  no  change  of 
character  occurs,  and  nothing  effectual  is  done  until  this 
is  gained,  why  not  hold  the  attention  of  the  sinner  here, 
and  count  him  as  an  alien  and  an  enemy,  resisting  the 
Spirit  and  persisting  in  his  wrong,  and  accumulating 
guilt  until  he  yields  here,  and  in  penitence,  and  like  a 
child,  submits?  Instruction  short  of  this  mistakes  the 
real  issue  in  his  case,  tends  to  embarrass  his  approach 
to  the  mercy-seat,  and  baffle  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in 
his  behalf. 

6. — This  discussion  helps  to  develope  the  philosophy 
of  revivals  of  religion.  The  disciples  were  daily,  with 
one  accord,  in  the  temple,  and  in  breaking  of  bread  from 
house  to  house  at  the  Pentecost.  Revivals  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  social  principle  in  man.  They  are  usual- 
ly promoted  by  the  consecutive  and  continuous  preach- 
ing of  the  word ;  by  efforts  to  absorb  the  public  atten- 
tion of  a  congregation,  an  J  getting  the  public  con- 
science of  a  community  in  habitual  contact  with  the 
doctrines  and  claims  of  divine  truth.  The  Spirit's  work 
is  according  to  the  laws  of  mind,  and  the  success  of  the 
word,  on  the  generic  principle  of  success  in  respect  to 
any  other  public  and  general  object.  Christians  must 
unite  in  it  with  a  suitable  spirit  of  dependence,  prayer- 
fulness  and  activity.  False  gods  must  be  put  away  out 
of  Zion,  and  tmth  must  have  free  access  to  the  minds 


376  SPIRIT*S   INFLUENCES. 

« 

of  men,  and,  they  be  brought  to  habitual  and  unembar- 
rassed consideration  of  the  high  behests  of  religion. 

7. — The  failure  of  revivals  is  not  to  be  attributed  to 
the  sovereign  withholding  of  the  influences  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  The  reasons  of  "  Zion's  captivity"  are  on  earth, 
and  not  in  heaven.  The  hinderances  pre  here,  or  from 
Satanic  instigation ;  they  lie  in  the  church,  in  the  min- 
istry, in  the  diversion  of  the  public  mind,  or  some  de- 
fective use  of  the  means  appointed  of  God  for  salvation, 
or  more  success  would  attend  the  word,  and  more  hearts 
submit.  Some  special  obstacle  is  in  the  way  often,  some 
secret  Achan  in  the  camp,  or  some  open  and  sanctioned 
iniquity,  which  obstructs  the  word  and  causes  it  to  be- 
come unprofitable.  On  the  part  of  Heaven,  all  is  ready 
— ever  ready.  We  know  not  how  to  understand  the 
character  of  God,  and  the  gi-and  features  of  the  econo- 
my of  grace,  if  this  be  not  so.  The  parables  of  Christ, 
and  the  instruction  of  apostles,  announce  this  truth: 
the  standing  invitations  of  the  gospel  contain  it. 

We  would  give  emphasis  to  this  statement,  and  my 
again,  that  the  failure  of  the  word  is  to  be  viewed  from 
the  direction  of  the  obstructions  of  earth,  and  not  of 
the  inscrutable  pui-pose  and  will  of  Heaven.  There  are 
laws  of  moral  influence,  and  they  obtain  in  relation  to 
this  subject:  let  them  be  complied  with,  and  results  will 
follow,  such  as  the  gospel  contemplates  and  Pentecost 
witnessed.  The  parable  of  the  sower  presents  this  truth 
in  happy  contrast  with  that  sentiment  of  dependence 
which  resolves  the  want  of  success  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  word,  and  the  deaith  of  revivals,  into  the 


spirit's  influences.  377 

issue,  that  "the  time  is  not  come  to  build  the  house  of 
the  Lord." 

8. — Resistance  of  the  Spirit  is  a  prominent  sin  of 
Christendom.  "  To  apply  the  merits  of  the  redemption 
purchased  by  Christ,"  is  the  office-work  of  the  Spirit. 
The  New  Testament  refers  to  Him  as  an  abiding  agent 
with  the  means  of  grace,  and,  for  aught  that '  is  known. 
His  presence  may  be  co-extensive  with  the  application 
of  those  means.  Few,  it  is  believed,  pass  through  pro- 
bation, under  the  light  of  the  gospel,  without  sharing 
His  influences.  Few  go  on  to  a  state  of  confirmed  in- 
iquity, and  are  given  up  of  God  to  the  way  of  their  own 
heart,  and  to  the  condemnation  to  which  it  leads,  with- 
out "resisting  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  impinging  on  this 
ultimate  provision  of  mercy.  Multitudes,  now  in  their 
sins,  would  before  this  have  been  rejoicing  in  Christ,  but 
for  the  abuse  of  conscience,  and  "  doing  despite  to  the 
Spirit  of  grace."  The  Saviour  sublimely  prefigures  the 
idea  we  would  present,  in  His  apostrophe  to  Jerasalem  : 
"O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem!  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  and  ye  would  not:  be- 
hold, your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate." 

Finally. — The  doctrine  of  the  Spirit  is  the  grand  en- 
couragement of  the  minister  of  the  gospel  in  "  commend- 
ing himself,  through  manifestation  of  the  truth,  to  every 
man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God^ 

Truth,  conscience,  and  the  Spirit's  influence,  are  cor- 
relates, in  respect  to  the  issue,  termed  conversion.  With- 
out the  truth,  there  would  be  no  intelligence  in  it ;  with- 
out the  moral  sense,  no  responsibility  would  attach  to 
it,  and  without  the  Spirit,  it  would  never  be  effected. 
/ 


■^'^  m  tmi*^^: 


378  spirit's  influences. 

Truth  is  the  instrument,  and  conscience  the  medium  of 
the  Spirit's  influence  in  changing  the  will,  and  securing 
in  it,  and  in  human  experience,  all  that  redemption  con- 
templates. Sanctification  is  "through  the  truth;"  con- 
viction is  conviction  of  it  in  the  conscience,  and  con- 
version is  the  first  right  movement  of  the  will  in  view 
of  it.  Such  is  the  state  of  man  in  sin ;  so  many  and 
prevalent  the  counter  influences  of  propensity  and  habit, 
that  this  movement  of  will  is  never  secured  as  the  un- 
aided result  of  truth,  manifested  to  the  concsience.  The 
merciful  economy  of  the  Spirit  supervenes ;  the  promise 
of  God  and  the  hope  of  Zion  are  associated  with  the 
co-operating  and  effeqtual  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
with  the  means  divinely  appointed.  Even  this  ultimate 
provision  of  mercy  will  be  resisted  by  many  of  our  race, 
the  acme  of  whose  guilt  and  condemnation  will  be,  that 
they  have  not  only  "trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God, 
but  have  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  gi*ace."  "  Nev- 
ertheless the  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure."  All 
will  not  resist  the  Spirit.  Multitudes  have  been,  and 
multitudes  more  will  be  begotten  of  Him  through  the 
truth.  The  word  of  God  shall  accomplish  that  where- 
unto  He  sends  it,  and  an  innumerable  company,  which 
no  man  can  number,  return  and  come  to  Zion  with  songs, 
and  everlasting  joy  on  their  heads. 


THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.  379 


FOURTEEN  THESES ;  OE.  OUTLINES  OF  THEOLOGIY. 


THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    I. 

In  this  age  of  rapid  movements,  crude  opinions  and 
surface  work,  there  are  yet  those  that  think,  that  inquire 
after  the  philosophy  of  religious  belief — that  would  gain 
the  first  truths  of  reason,  and  reconcile  therewith  the 
statements  of  theology  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Church. 

1st.  Theology  is  moral  science  in  the  department  of 
religion. 

2d.  It  is  embraced  in  the  three  categories, —  the  In- 
finite, the  finite,  and  the  relation  between  them. 

I.— The  Being  of  God. 

1st.  Something  is. — (Proof) — (1)  The  senses;  (2)  con- 
sciousness ;  (3)  universal  conviction  and  consent. 

2d.  Something  always  was. — ^The  derived  implies  the 
underived;  the  created  the  uncreated;  the  finite  and 
dependent,  the  absolute  and  independent. 

3d.  Original  of  being,  not  matter. — Matter  Hot  inher- 
ently cause — has  a  reason  for  being,  and  being  in  one 
place  rathei*  than  another — is  dependent ;  a  thing  placed ; 
is  in  itself  without  design  or  end. 

4th.  Original  of  being,  spiritual,  personal  intelligence 


380  THESES   IN  THEOLOGY. 

— the  "I  Am,"  of  the  Bible.  Intelligence  is  cause  per 
se;  it  only  is  cause;  acts  from  design;  has  an  end  in 
what  it  does.  This  is  true  of  derived  intelligence — much 
more  of  the  underived. 

5th.  Knowledge  has  a  chronological  method  and  a  log- 
ical method.  We  are,  therefore  God  is.  The  being  of 
God  is  pre-supposed  and  known  in  the  being  of  anything 
else.     It  must  be  that  God  is,  if  anything  is. 

6th.  We  may  know  that  that  is,  which  we  cannot  com- 
prehend— hence  may  know  God,  and  that  He  is,  though 
not  able  to  comprehend  the  Infinite. 

7th.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  derived  intelligence 
will  comprehend  the  underived;  the  law  of  knowledge 
is  by  analogy. 

8th.  If  the  finite,  created,  is  only  by  the  Infinite,  un- 
created, then  is  the  Being  of  God  the  complement  of 
all  knowledge  and  thought,  and  God  is  all  His  works. 

THE  PERFECTIONS  OF  GOD.    II. 

Both  physical  and  moral  are  infinite. 

1  St.  If  not  infinite,  then  is  He  finite,  limited,  created, 
dependent,  and  then  not  God. 

2d.  Rectitude  is  the  moral  state  and  method  of  all  in- 
telligence. 

3d.  Infinite,  personal  intelligence,  could  not  act  legit- 
imately or  satisfiictorily  to  itself  except  rightly,  and  ac- 
cording to  truth. 

4th.  Moral  -svi'ong  is  only  by  defection  from  right — 
is  by  way  of  apostasy ; — in  God  is  no  ground  of  change. 

5th.  Sin  is  a  mistake  as  well  as  a  mislead,  and  as  such 
could  not  be  predicable  of  the  Infinite,  or  be  of  the  na- 
ture of  intelligent  action  in  Him. 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  381 

*  6th.  Malevolence  is  never  an  end.  Sin  has  the  real 
sanction  and  subsidy  of  no  mind,  as  that  which  is  in  it- 
self desirable.  It  is  never  chosen  for  its  own  sake : — the 
vilest  are  ashamed  of  it,  seen  in  its  true  light  and  un- 
der the  testimony  of  conscience. 

7th.  Our  constituent  being  "made  in  the  image  of 
God."  repudiates  wrong — "the  law  in  the  mind,"  as  con- 
trasted, with  "the  law  in  the  members." 

8th.  The  Jehovah  of  the  Scriptures,  with  all  perfec- 
tion of  knowledge,  of  power,  of  wisdom,  goodness,  and. 
truth,  and  every  attribute  of  the  uncreated,  absolute. 
One,  infinitely  and  immutably. 

Infs. — 1st.  The  Divine  economy  is  pure  and  perfect 
in  all  morality. 

2d.  All  imperfection,  and  wrong  and  ill,  is  through 
the  abuse  of  that  which  in  its  normal  method  and  on- 
going, is  right  and  good. 

3d.  Sin  is  in  the  finite,  and  is  resultant  of  the  abnor- 
mal action  and  movements  of  finite  cause. 

4th.  The  Judge  of  all  the  earth  .will  do  right. 

5th.  We  ought  to  have  unlimited  confidence  in  the 
wisdom,  rectitude,  and  faithfulness  of  God. 

THE  WORKS  OF  GOD.    III. 

1st.  A  quiescent  Deity  is  a  solecism.  God  is  an  in- 
telligence— a  cause — a  power :  He  will  have  forthgoings 
and  work. 

2d.  A  work  is  of  necessity  in  the  finite.  It  is  some- 
thing done — a  factum,  a  reason  for  it,  and  a  cause  of  it 
lie  out  of,  and  before  it.  It  has  time,  and  place,  and  all 
the  accidents  of  the  finite. 

3d.  The  forthgoings  and  work  of  God  will  be  the  re- 


382  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

suit  of  His  perfections,  and  truly  represent  them — their 
cast,  and  design,  and  method,  and  scheme,  and  end,  will 
be  such  as  a  Being  of  perfect  rectitude  can  approve. 

4th.  The  work  of  God,  so  far  as  known  to  us,  or  ap- 
preciative by  us,  will '  be  in  the  physical  and  moral 
spheres — matter  and  mind — nature  and  spirit — things 
and  persons — irresponsible  existence  and  responsible, 
intelligent  beings. 

5th.  The  physical  sphere  will  be  in  subordination  to 
the  moral  or  spiritual,  and  for  its  sake,  and  adapted  to 
its  development  and  behests. 

6th.  A  moral  system  or  sphere,  with  intelligent  be- 
ings in  the  likeness  and  after  the  image  of  God,  is  a 
perfect  work.  Nothing  else  could  be  better,  or  be  in 
its  place,  for  this  is  like  God,  and  truly  resultant  of  His 
perfections,  and  its  moral  ongoing  must  manifest  Him 
and  be  worthy  of  Him. 

7th.  Such  a  system,  including  God  and  all  other  in- 
telligences, is  inherently  an  end  in  itself,  and  the  high- 
est end. 

8th.  It  Is  unreason  to  ask  anything  else  in  the  place 
of  such  a  system. 

Inferences : — 1st.  The  present  not  a  choice  of  systems, 
as  though  embodying  on  the  whole  the  fewest  evils  and 
the  most  good.  Such  a  category  would  put  God  into 
the  finite.  His  economy  is  a  perfection  and  not  a  bal- 
ancing of  expedients.  It  is  rectitude,  and  any  imper- 
fection in  it,  would  ruin  it  for  Him  and  render  it  un- 
worthy of  Him. 

2d.  All  evil  originates  in  the  infraction  of  the  Divine 
economy,  and  moral  evil  is  the  parent  of  all  other  evil. 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  383 

3d.  No  good  reason  can  be  given,  or  need  be  attempt- 
ed, for  the  existence  of  wrong. 

4th.  The  existence  of  moral  evil  is  not  to  be  resolved 
in  a  theistic  argument,  and  no  vindication  of  the  char- 
acter of  God  is  called  for  in  relation  to  it. 

5th.  Sin  is  in  eveiy  respect  antagonistical  to  God — 
to  His  purposes,  and  end  in  all  things,  and  implies  the 
righteousness  and  pefection  of  His  being,  economy,  and 
ways. 

MORAL  PRINCIPLES  THE  CO-ORDINATE  OF  MORAL  BEING.    IV. 

1st.  Moral  principles  inhere  in  moral  relations. 

2d.  Like  all  mere  qualities  they  must  inhere  in  some 
ground,  and  that  ground  is  moral  beings;  they  imply 
and  have  personality. 

3d.  The  relations  of  the  Infinite  and  the  finite  involve 
and  evoke  them.  Worship  and  obedience  are  not  more 
an  appointment  of  God  than  the  demand  of  our  being 
and  a  meet  response  from  the  relations  subsisting  be- 
tween us  and  Himself  God  appoints  them,  and  in- 
structs us  in  respect  to  them,  because  they  are  in  them- 
selves meet  and  due. 

4th.  A  Divine  revelation  to  us  would  be  of  the  nature 
of  a  manifestation  to  the  principles  of  being  in  us,  and 
on  the  ground  of  the  relations  subsisting  between  us 
and  God. 

5th.  The  Bible  has  its  doctrinal  basis  in  the  elements 
of  all  truth,  gi-owing  out  of  the  being  and  relations  of 
the  Infinite  and  the  finite — penitence  as  related  to  for- 
giveness— equivalents,  the  doctrine  of  commerce — the 
conscience  attesting  the  obligation  of  Divine  precepts. 

6th.  A  revelation  from  God  is  information  from  the 


384  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

depths  of  the  Infinite,  on  principles  of  truth  recognized 
in  our  being  and  inherent  relations  to  God. 

7th.  From  the  nature  of  the  intelligence,  sin  wounds 
the  conscience — it  would  if  in  the  Infinite  as  well  as  in 
the  finite.  "  That  be  far  from  Thee  to  slay  the  right- 
eous with  the  -wdcked.  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth  do  right?" 

8th.  Natm*al  ill  is  inherently  consequent  on  moral 
wrong.  It  is  not  so  much  by  overt  appointment  as  in- 
herent connection,  from  the  nature  and  relations  of  the 
intelligence. 

9th.  God  modifies  and  uses  this  relation  of  natural  ill 
to  moral  wi'ong,  for  pui-poses  of  probation,  and  all  ends 
in  righteousness  in  a  moral  system. 

10.  Retribution  is  naturally  and  cumulatively  conse- 
quent on  sin  and  probation.  • 

Hence, — 1st.  The  Bible  and  reason  are  not  in  disa- 
greement. 

2d.  Natural  religion  is  a  stepping-stone  to  that  which 
is  revealed. 

3d.  Revelation  is  exegetical  of  natural  religion. 

4th.  Objective  truth  has  its  prototypes  in  the  ideas  of 
the  reason. 

5th.  All  Divine  precepts  are  adapted  to  our  moral 
being  and  inherently  obligatory. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    V. 

The  Purposes  of  God. 

I. — Purposes  are  a  mental  state  or  detennination  of 
mind,  antecedent  to,  and  conditional  for  an  action  of 
the  agent  purposing. 

II. — The  purposes  of  God  are  His  mental  determina- 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  38S 

tions,  concerning  His  own  work,  or  of  what  He  will  do. 
1st.  This  is  a  universal  law  of  intelligence.     One  pur- 
poses his  own  conduct,  and  what  influence  to  exeit  on 
others  in  behalf  of  objects  desirable  to  him. 

2d.  A  purpose,  like  a  conception,  is  necessarily  orig- 
inal, and  personal  in  the  mind  that  has  it.  Two  indi- 
viduals may  have  like  purposes  in  relation  to  the  same 
object,  but  then  their  purposes  are  distinct,  and  it  is 
every  way  unphilosophical  to  hold  them  as  identical, 
and  to  say  that  one  purposes  the  purposes  of  the  other. 

3d.  Free,  original  thought,  and  design,  and  voluntary- 
action  are  the  characteristic  and  law  of  mind.  It  is  so 
in  the  Infinita;  it  is  so  in  those  intelligences  "made  \u 
His  image." 

4th.  God  secures  desired  ends  through  a  scheme  and 
providence  of  His  own,  and  "according  to  the  counsel 
of  His  own  will;"  meeting,  antagonizing  with,  or  ac- 
cepting the  action,  or  plans,  or  puiiDoses  of  others,  as 
may  seem  best  to  Him — His  thoughts  are  not  their 
thoughts,  nor  their  ways  His — by  "  bringing  light  out 
of  darkness  and  order  out  of  confusion,"  &c. 

5th.  In  this  way  is  the  glory  of  God  secm-ed,  as  re- 
lated to  the  machinations  and  work  of  wicked  agents — 
not  by  planning  their  plans  and  purposing  their  pur- 
poses— but  through  a  plan  and  purpose  of  His  own,  cir- 
cumventing, overmling,  and  defeating  them,  and  bring- 
ing good  out  of  evil. 

Gth.  That  philosophy  is  unsound  and  fallacious  which 
prescribes  a  Divine  programme,  and  ordination  of  all 
that  is,  in  the  responsible,  moral  sphere. 
25 


386  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

7th.  We  know  that  much  is,  in  the  responsible,  moral 
«phere,  that  God  does  not  will,  or  devise,  or  want. 

8th.  We  see  no  need  of  God's  willing  or  ordaining 
moral  wi'ong  in  order  for  it  to  be :  it  is  essentially  anti- 
theifltic. 

9th.  Physical  ills,  as  resultant  of  moral  wrong,  may 
be  Divinely  modified  and  used  for  good.  • 

10th.  The  purposes  of  God  are  in  accordance  with  all 
morality,  and  appreciably  so. 

11th.  Resignation  to  evils,  which  are  consequent  on 
Wi'ong  received,  springs  not  so  properly  from  the  fact 
that  they  take  place,  as  from  the  overruling  and  recu- 
perative agency  and  influence  of  God,  in  our  behalf,  re- 
specting them. 

12th.  The  purposes  of  God  are  equivalent  to,  and 
identical  with  an  eyer-present  discretion  in  righteousness, 
in  the  sphere  of  the  Infinite. 

Hence, — 1st.  There  is  unity  of  being  and  of  charac- 
ter in  God. 

M.  There  is  an  appreciable  morality  in  God. 

3d.  The  pure  and  holy  Jesus  was  a  truthful  manifes- 
tation of  God. 

4th.  Our  theology  need  not  stumble,  or  be  perplexed 
at  the  doctrine  of  the  purposes  of  God. 

5th.  No  good  reason  need  be  attempted  for  the  in- 
ception of  moral  wrong. 

6th.  Sin  is  every  way  without  excuse. 

7th.  The  decrees  of  God  are  no  bar  to  prayer.  They 
are  but  the  righteous  decisions  of  One  who  abides  ever 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  387 

in  the  present,  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  His  creatures, 
and  answer  those  who  cry  unto  Him. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    VI. 

Mind  Inherently  Cause  and  Self-Controlled. 

1st.  This  is  true  of  the  Divine  Mind,  by  universal 
concession. 

2d.  Finite  intelligence  is  made  in  the  Divine  likeness. 

3d.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  consciousness. 

4th.  This  is  essential  to  personality. 

5th.  This  is  essential  to  responsibility. 

6th.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  law,  of  probation,  and 
penalty,  as  applied  to  intelligent  beings. 

7th.  This  is  admitted  in  the  propositions  of  mercy. 

8th.  This  is  involved  in  all  exhortation,  all  submission 
of  ti-uth  for  practical  purposes,  in  all  discipline,  rewards, 
and  punishments.  Why  exhort  to  that  which  cannot 
be  withheld,  or  which  is  already  in  your  own  power  ? 

9th.  This  is  of  the  veiy  element  of  will,  as  contra-dis- 
tinguished from  the  necessitated  faculties  of  mind. 

Hence, — 1st.  The  sovereignty  of  our  voluntary  states 
is  with  ourselves. 

2d.  All  influences  from  without,  and  means  of  mov- 
ing mind,  are  submitted  to  its  arbitrament,  and  discre- 
tion, and  responsibility,  as  to  the  response  we  give. 

3d.  The  finite  can  resist  and  disobey  the  Infinite,  and 
often  does. 

4th.  That  may  he,  which  God  does  not  will,  and  as 
He  is  of  one  mind,  which  He  has  never  willed  or  de- 
termined. 

5th.  It  is  irrelevant  to  inquire  why  God  has  not  pre- 
vented all  sin  and  -wrong. 


388  THESES    IN    THEOLOGY. 

6th.  A  moral  economy  may,  in  probation,  but  imper- 
fectly accomplish  the  will  of  God. 

7th.  Probation  has  a  natural  result  in  retribution. 

8th.  God  may  never  regain  in  all  hearts,  and  see  His 
will  done  in  all  minds ;  He  will  never  have  the  spiritual 
control  of  the  finally  impenitent  and  lost  ones. 

9th.  The  question  of  power,  or  almightiness  in  God, 
is  out  of  place  when  applied  to  the  coercion  or  absolute 
control  of  the  will  in  His  intelligent  creatures. 

10th.  All  Gospel  influences  are  resistible  by  the  mind. 

11th.  These  influences  may  nevertheless  prevail,  and 
yet  increasingly,  *-in  the  ages  to  come,"  and  the  world 
be  converted  to  Christ. 

12th.  Men  may  repent,  as  they  ought,  when  they  can 
hold  out  in  impenitence,  as  others  do. 

13th.  Moral  government  has  an  eventual  resort,  in 
physical  force,  in  respect  to  those  who  refuse  compli- 
ance with  its  righteous  dictates.  God  fixes  the  physical 
condition  of  the  finally  impenitent  and  lost,  but  their 
wills  will  never  be  under  His  control,  or  be  as  He  would 
have  them  to  be. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    VII. 

The  method  of  the  Deity,  in  all  his  works,  is  a  pure 
righteousness,  and  eveiy  way  consistent  with  the  first 
principles  of  morality. 

1st.  He  is  an  infinitely  perfect,  spiritual  being. 

2d.  His  contrast,  and  great  ultimate  end,  must  be 
worthy  of  Him,  self-satisfactory  to  Himself,  and  morally 
like  Himself. 

3d.  His  object  must  be  the  greatest  righteousness  of 
His  intelligent  creatures,  and  their  highest  moral  likeness 


THESES    IN    THEOLOGY.  389 

to  Himself,  and  the  greatest  good  as  therein  contained. 

4th.  Any  dereliction  from  this  on  the  part  of  His  in- 
telligent offspring  must  incur  His  rebuke  and  displeas- 
ure as  contrary  to  His  will,  and  a  disruption  of  His 
method  and  design  in  all  His  works. 

5th.  The  manifestations  of  the  Deity  on  the  actual 
outbreak  of  wrong,  on  the  part  of  angels  and  men,  and 
His  position  in  respect  to  sin  ever  since,  evince  this.. 

6th.  A  method  or  plan  of  things  is  for  the  sake  of 
its  execution,  and  is  nugatory  and  worthless  without  it. 

7th.  A  method  or  plan  of  things  has  the  moral  qual- 
ity of  its  execution. 

8th.  God  would  institute  no  method  or  plan  of  things 
whose  execution  He  could  not  approve.  The  outbreak 
of  sin  would  complicate  the  Divine  relations  to  wrong, 
and  the  methods  of  God's  antagonism  to  it,  but  an  orig- 
inal. Divine  economy  will  be  pure  in  all  righteousness. 

9th.  Sin,  as  a  device,  is  essentially  anti-theistic,  and 
could  be  no  part  of  a  Divine  plan  or  economy  of  things. 

10th.  Any  propositional  relation  to  sin  in  the  Divine 
scheme  of  the  universe  would  be  suicidal  in  God,  and 
could  not  meet  the  approval  of  intelligences  made  in 
His  image. 

11th.  No  such  relation  to  wrong  in  a  scheme  of  things, 
could  be  imitated  by  those  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
without  incurring  His  displeasure  and  rebuke. 

12th.  Such  a  relation  would  involve  the  absurdity,  that 
there  can  be  a  good  reason  for  an  intrinsic  wrong. 

13th.  And  also,  that  wrong,  whenever  and  wherever 
it  occurs,  is  better  than  right.     Hence, 


390  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

14th.  That  wrong  as  it  exists  is  the  best  thing  pos'^ 
sible  and  therefore  is  not  wrong. 

loth.  We  are  instructed  to  be  followers  of  God  as 
dear  children,  but  cannot  without  self-condemnation, 
imitate  Him,  in  a  scheme  of  things,  which  devises  and 
plans  that  which  is  morally  wrong. 

16th.  Our  constituent  moral  being,  which  is  like  that 
of  God,  repudiates  a  wrong  method,  as  much  as  a  wrong 
act. 

17th.  Sin  cannot  be  a  Divine  expedient, — James  i. 
12-17, — God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil. 

18th.  If  God  ordains  moral  evil,  it  must  be  for  a  good 
reason,  which  involves  a  palpable  solecism. 

19th.  If  God  ordains  wrong,  then  is  wrong  needful 
in  a  right  system,  and  a  right  system  is  defective  and 
imperfect  without  it,  and  wi'ong  is  necessary  to  a  per- 
fect moral  system,  and  a  part  of  it,  and  is  therefore  not 
a  wrong. 

20th.  If  God  ordains  wrong,  it  is  out  of  preference 
to  its  being,  to  anything  else  in  its  place,  and  where 
wrong  is,  he  prefers  it  to  right,  and  chooses  moral  evil 
there  to  moral  good,  and  if  so,  then  is  there  no  unity  or 
determination  of  moral  character  in  God.     Hence, 

Inferences: — 1st.  Sin  does  not  ask  God's  leave  to  be. 

2d.  Sin  has  not  God's  permission  or  consent  to  be. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    VIIL 

A  moral  system  is  a  perfect  work,  and  a  Divine  ne- 
cessity, though  sin  and  wrong  are  an  inherent  liability 
under  it. 

I. — It  is  a  perfect  work. 

Ist.  It  is  the  work  of  an  Infinite  and  perfect  Being. 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  391 

2d.  It  is  in  the  end  of  a  universal  and  perfect  righte- 
ousness, and  capable  of  it. 

3d.  Its  crowning  work  and  reason  are  intelligent  be- 
ings, "in. the  image  of  God,"  and  for  this  end,  ani 
adapted  to  it. 

4th.  It  gives  a  true  and  proper  personality,  like  that 
of  God. 

oth.  It  involves  a  legitimate  and  proper  responsibility 
and  destiny. 

6th.  It  furnishes,  subjectively  and  objectively  (within 
and  without,)  all  requisite  grounds,  for  perfect  excellence 
of  character  and  state. 

7th.  Nothing  else,  or  other  than  such  a  system,  made 
in  the  likeness  of  God,  and  for  such  an  end,  could  be, 
without  being  imperfect,  and  being  unworthy  of  God. 
And  hence, 

II. — A  moral  system  as  above,  is  in  some  sense  a  Di- 
vine necessity.  It  has  the  perfect  freedom  and  whole 
soul  of  the  Deity  in  its  behalf  as  nothing  else  or  otherwise 
could  have.  Nothing  different  would  be  of  the  natm'e  of 
intelligent  action  in  God.  Right  intelligence  for  a  right 
end  is  the  sphere  and  true  expression  of  the  infinite,  an4 
of  a  Divine  economy  in  the  finite  and  created  of  being. 

1st.  Finite  mind  acts  often  on  defective  or  imperfect 
promises,  and  many  be  mistaken ;  God  never. 

2d.  Finite  mind  may,  through  change  and  inconsis- 
tency, get  at  fault  with  truth,  and  right,  and  God,  and 
come  to  hate  and  resist  Him  5  but  God  never. 

3d.  Infinite  intelligence  can  see  no  reason  against 
truth  apd  right,  or  for  sin  and  wrong,  and  must  ever  be 


392  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

of  one  spii'it  and  one  mind  for  the  eternal  rectitude  of 
a  moral  system. 

III. — Sin  and  wrong  an  inherent  liability  under  moral 
government  or  in  a  moral  system. 

1st.  A  moral  system  has  free  cause  in  the  finite. 

2d.  A  power  to  do  right  is  a  power  to  do  wTong,  and 
in  the  finite  the  alternative  may  become  an  actuality. 

3d.  A  moral  system  involves  the  legitimate  and  proper 
submission  of  the  question  of  right  and  wrong,  of  char- 
acter and  destiny,  and  would  be  a  worthless  pageant 
without  it. 

4th.  Its  Central  idea  is  the  discretion  and  responsibil- 
ity of  free  intelligence  and  will. 

5th.  Its  vitality,  excellence  and  gloi*y,  lie  in  this,  that 
its  righteousness  is  not  imposed  and  inevitable,  but  elec- 
tive, and  in  the  place  of  something  else  that  might  be, 
and  which  would  be  wrong. 

6th.  All  personality  involves  this,  and  would  be  re- 
duced to  mere  thing  without  it. 

7th.  All  conscious  responsibility  is  based  on  this,  and 
is  impossible  without  it. 

8th.  We  are  conscious,  only,  of  moral,  resistible  in- 
fluences, in  relation  to  conduct  and  character,  conform- 
ity or  the  want  of  it,  to  righteousness  and  law. 

9tli.  .It  cannot  be  proved  that  any  other  influences  in 
this  regard  exist,  or  are  possible. 

10th.  The  principle  that  underlies  the  whole  subject 
of  law,  prohibition,  exhortation,  warning,  penal  inflic- 
tion, &G.,  in  this  regard.  Does  one  exhort  to  that  which 
lies  in  his  power  ? 

11th.  The  question  of  fact.     Sin  could  not  be,  with- 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  ^  893 

out  the  liability  of  it.  Its  existence  shows  the  liability 
of  it  in  a  moral  system. 

Inferences: — ^st.  A  moral  system  is  not  responsible 
for  its  abuse. 

2d.  A  moral  system  cannot  be  altered,  even  though 
it  may  be  abused. 

3d.  The  question  of  sin  belongs  not  in  an  argument 
concerning  God.  God  is  not  its  father;  it  is  not  of  His 
economy  for  a  universe,  but  outside  of  it,  in  one  of  its 
own,  and  is  essentially  anti-theistic. 

4th.  The  inquiiy  is  iiTevelant  and  absurd  which  asks, 
why  God  does  not  prevent  all  sin.  The  element  of  elec- 
tiveness  is  essentially  in  a  moral  system.  Its  means  may 
all  be  expended,  and  yet  its  subjects  go  astray.  It  al- 
ways submits  the  question  of  obedience  to  the  mind's 
voluntary  arbitrament. 

5th.  That  may  occur  under  a  moral  system,  which  is 
in  no  sense  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God ;  which 
may  be  like  rebellion,  to  the  will  and  strategy  of  the 
State. 

9th.  As  sin  is  not  a  Divine  method,  God  may  exer- 
cise His  discretion  as  to  the  time  and  way  of  manifest- 
ing His  antagonism  against  it — may  let  the  wicked  fall 
into  the  pit  which  they  have  digged,  and  even  let  sin 
be  the  means  of  its  own  discomfiture,  and  of  accom- 
plishing His  benevolent  purposes  against  it,  and  for  its 
overthrow. 

7th.  A  probationaiy  economy  does  not  of  course  (may 
not)  accomplish  the  whole  will  of  ,God,  or  witness^  only 
that  which  is  according  to  His  will. 

8th.  Retribution  has  the  element  of  physical  power 


394  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

9th.  The  supremacy  of  God  is  through  an  indepen- 
dent economy  of  His  own,  circumventing  sin,  triumph- 
ing over  it;  either  first  by  moral  methods  in  probation, 
or  eventually  in  retribution,  to  the  honor  of  all  right- 
eousness and  truth. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    IX. 

In  these  theses  it  is  not  claimed  that  each  succeeding 
one  is  wlwlly  an  advance  from  previous  ones,  but  that  in 
the  use  of  them,  it  presents  some  additional  view,  of  the 
subject  in  hand,  and  adds  something  to  the  stock  of 
thought  intended — and  to-day  as  follows,  viz.: — 

Sin  cannot  he  an  expedient  in  the  Divine  economy  of  the 
universe. 

I.— 1st.  1  James  xii,  17  :  ''For  God  cannot  be  tempt- 
ed with  evil,"  &c. 

2d.  This  would  imply  that  there  is  a  good  reason  for 
the  existence  of  wrong,  and  that  where  it  exists  it  is 
better  and  more  desirable  than  right. 

3d.  Sin  is  never  only  a  means  to  an  end,  and  if  it  be 
the  Divine  resort  in  an  economy  of  things,  then  is  God, 
in  this  respect,  in  the  same  category  with  all  others  who 
make  it  a  resort  in  the  plans  and  purposes  they  form. 

4th.  As  sin  is  but  an  intrinsic  wrong,  an  essential  un- 
reason,  it  is  impossible  that  God  should  see  reason  for  it 
in  the  Divine  economy  of  the  universe 

5th.  As  sin  is  essentially  anti-theistic,  it  is  logically 
impossible  that  it  should  be  an  ingredient  in  the  Divine 
economy  or  an  expedient  of  it. 

6th.  If  sin  is  a  Divine  expedient,  then  must  God  see 
reason  for  the  infraction  of  His  own  law,  which  thing 
is  absurd,  and  this 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  395 

7th.  Would  imply  that  God  is  not  immutable,  and, 
of  course,  that  He  exists  in  the  finite. 

8th.  If  sin  be  a  Divine  expedient,  then  is  it  a  Divine 
necessity,  and  God  is  dependent  on  it,  in  His  own  econ- 
omy, for  the  greatest  good. 

9th.  If  sin  be  a  Divine  expedient,  then  is  not  the 
right  and  normal  ongoing  of  a  perfect  moral  system  the 
best  method  for  it,  and  imperfection  and  wi'ong  are 
better  than  perfection  and  right,  and  if  so,  then 

10th.  A  perfect  righteousness  is  not  the  highest  good. 

11th.  Then,  too,  is  not  the  law  of  God  perfect  in  its 
requirements,  and  perfect  obedience  to  it  is  not  a  duty, 
and  it  is  better  broken  than  kept. 

12th.  If  sin  be  a  Divine  expedient,  then  does  God 
see  infinitely  good  reasons  for  it,  and  that  wherever  it 
exists  it  could  not  be  exchanged  for  anything  else  with- 
out detriment  to  a  moral  system. 

13th.  If  so,  then  is  it  not  contrary  to  the  will  of  God, 
and  then  is  it  what  God  would  have  to  take  place,  and 
then  is  it  not  wrong,  and  then,  too,  is  it  not  sin,  and  sin 
is  an  imposibility ;  and  then,  too,  is  likeness  to  God  and 
conformity  to  His  will  impossible  without  sin. 

14th.  The  heart  of  God  would  revolt  at,  and  repudiate, 
such  an  expedient  as  sin  in  His  method  ot  the  universe. 

15th.  It  would  be  to  adopt  the  false  and  pernicious 
maxim,  that  "  the  end  sanctifies  the  means. ''^ 

16th.  It  is  impossible  that  sin  should  be  a  resort,  as  a 
method  to  an  end,  of  any  but  a  finite  and  wrong-minded 
being. 

17th.  Those  made  in  the  image  of  God  and  who  are 
commanded  to  be  like  Him,  cannot  follow  such  a  lead 


396  THESES    IN   THEOLOGY. 

in  their  methods  of  securing  results  without  forfeiting 
perfection  of  character. 

18th.  The  conscience  which  God  has  given  us,  as  the 
transcript  of  His  own,  will  not  endorse  such  a  resort  in 
plans  we  lay  and  the  methods  we  employ. 

19th.  If  sin  be  a  Divine  resort  in  the  scheme  of  the 
universe,  then  is  it  clothed  with  the  dignity  of  a  Divine 
strategy,  and  entitled  to  the  respect  which  belongs  to 
the  plans  and  purposes  of  God. 

20th.  Then,  too,  ought  we  to  know  this,  and  to  feel 
that  when  we  are  sinning,  we  are  subserving  the  highest 
interests  of  the  universe,  and  then,  likewise,  ought  we 
to  sin  in  the  spirit  of  obedience  to  the  will  of  God. 
But 

II. — 1st.  If  sin  be  not  an  expedient  and  resort  in  the 
Divine  economy  of  the  universe,  so  it  need  not  be  :  it  is 
essentially  anti-theistic,  and  is  abundantly  accounted  for 
in  finite  cause,  contravening  and  counteracting  the  will, 
and  purposes,  and  great  end,  which  God  has  in  view  in 
all  His  works. 

2d.  If  sin  be  not  a  Divine  expedient,  &c.,  then  "  to 
its  own  master,  it  standeth  or  falleth." 

3d.  And  then,  too,  is  not  conscience  a  mislead,  and  a 
perfect  Divine  moral  government  is  no  mistake  and  no 
pageant. 

4th.  Then,  too,  is  the  Divine  prohibition  of  sin,  at 
first,  and  always  consistent,  and  appreciable,  and  exeget- 
ical  of  the  unity  and  moral  peifectness  of  all  His  rela- 
tions to  it. 

5th.  Then  thus,  also,  is  His  providential  rebuke  of  sin, 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  397 

and  His  final  settlement  of  woe  on  all  those  who  persist 
in  it. 

6th.  Then,  too,  is  not  the  Gospel  merely  part  of  a 
Divine  strategy,  in  common  with  sin,  but  a  real  Divine 
remedy  against  it,  and  its  outbreak  in  the  finite  contrary, 
to  the  will  and  prohibition  of  God. 

7th.  And  hence  the  consistency,  of  repentance  of  sin, 
in  order  to  forgiveness  under  the  Gospel. 

8th.  If  sin  be  not  God's  expedient  in  His  Divine 
method  of  the  universe,  and  all  His  relations  to  it  are 
consistent  with  perfect  rectitude,  then  His  peace  of 
mind  is  not  disturbed  by  it,  any  more  than  that  of  any 
other  perfectly  good  being,  in  view  of  wrong. 

9th.  As  sin  is  thus,  in  no  sense  of  God,  He  may  exer- 
cise His  sovereign  discretion  in  His  methods  against  it 
within  the  sphere  of  all  rectitude  and  goodness — may 
let  it  be  for  its  own  rebuke  and  discomfiture,  and  even 
yield  His  Son  to  the  power  of  His  own  enemies,  "  that 
through  death  He  might  conquer  him  who  had  the 
power  of  death,"  and  be  the  life  of  the  world,  and  thus 
bring  order  out  of  confusion,  and  light  out  of  darkness. 

10.  As  God  is  in  the  right,  in  this  controversy  with 
sin  and  the  powers  of  darkness,  and  has  therewith  all 
the  moral  and  physical  resources  of  the  Infinite,  we  may 
confidingly  know  that,  according  to  His  Word,  He  will 
reign  until  He  hath  put  all  His  enemies  under  His  feet, 
and  eternally  vindicate  the  excellency  and  glory,  and 
triumph  of  all  righteousness,  and  goodness,  and  truth. 

Finally. — The  prayers  and  labors  of  all  good  men,  in 
behalf  of  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  against  sin,  and  the 
common  sense  of  all  men  on  all  subjects,  are  a  united 


398  THESES    IN  THEOLOGY. 

testimony  for  the  validity  and  correctness  of  the  view- 
here  taken. 

P.  S. — I  propose  but  two  more  themes  in  this  series — 
the  method  of  the  Divine  Supremacy,  and  the  term^  of  a 
completed  moral  science. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    X. 

How  does  tlie  Infinite  comprehend  the  Finite  f  or,  How  is 
God  Supreme  ? 

1st.  Not  in  that  He  is  the  only  cause. 

2d.  Not  in  absorbing  from  finite  intelligence,  the 
proper  element  of  personal  cause. 

3d.  Not  in  possessing,  in  relation  to  finite  intelligence, 
direct  and  absolute  sovereignty  of  its  voluntaiy  states. 
This  would  destroy  it.  Sovereignty  in  this  regard  is  of 
the  essence  of  personality,  and  all  legitimate  responsi- 
bility. 

4th.  Not  by  the  universal  programme,  and  arrange- 
ment of  all  that  is,  so  that  the  actual  ongoing  in  the 
moral  sphere,  is  resultant  of  His  supremacy,  and  an  ex- 
ponent of,  or  in  accordance  with.  His  plan  and  purpose 
and  will ;  and  so  that  nothing  shall  be,  but  what  He  in 
some  sense  wills. 

5th.  Not  by  the  Divine  peimission  of,  or  consent  to, 
wrong. 

6th.  Not  by  being  unmindful  or  regardless  of  the 
fearfull  wrong  and  remediless  effects  of  sin  in  a  moral 
system.    But 

7th.  In  making,  at  first,  a  perfect  system  and  economy 
of  persons  and  things  with  finite  intelligence,  "  in  His 
own  image,  and  after  His  likeness,"  at  its  head,  arid  for 
a  perfect  end,  in  the  highest  rectitude  and  excellence. 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  899 

8th.  In  using  all  the  appropriate  influences  and  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Infinite  to  keep  it  so,  and  universally 
to  attain  this  end. 

9th.  In  knowing,  intuitively,  what  are  the  inherent 
liabilities  of  a  perfect  moral  system,  and  the  facts  of  it 
in  actual  history. 

10th.  In  being  physically  omnipotent  and  indepen- 
dent in  the  full  appropriate  sphere  of  the  Infinite, 
"  Who  doeth  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  His  own 
will." 

11th.  In  aiding,  and  sustaining,  and  influencing,  in 
every  way  of  wisdom  and  truth,  all  right  action  in  finite 
cause,  in  accordance  with  His  purpose  and  great  end  in 
all  things. 

12th.  In  antagonizing,  in  eveiy  way  of  wisdom,  in- 
tegrity and  tmth  against  all  wrong  there,  "bringing 
light  out  of  darkness,  and  order  out  of  confusion ;" 
limiting  the  prevalence,  and  remedying  the  eflfects  of 
sin,  and  instructing  the  universe  in  view  of  it. 

13th.  In  the  use  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  Infinite, 
bringing,  however,  a  triumph  at  length  on  all  righteous- 
ness, and  discredit  and  discomfiture  on  all  sin  and 
wrong. 

14th.  In  reigning  to  the  eventual  putting  down  of  all 
sin,  and  confining  its  adherents  to  their  own  place,  and 
the  exaltation  of  all  righteousness. 

15th.  In  securing  glory  to  His  name,  and  to  all  right- 
eousness, in  all  these  His  relations  to  the  finite. 

16th.  In  doing  all  that,  in  the  moral  sphere,  to  this 
end,  both  in  probation  and  retribution,  which  is  appro- 
priate to  them,  on  the  part  of  the  Infinite. 


400  THESES   IN  THEOLOGY. 

Inferences. — 1st.  Then  is  there  legitimate  cause  and 
responsibility  in  the  finite. 

2d.  Then  is  there  unity  of  moral  character  and  aim 
in  the  Infinite. 

3d.  Then  is  the  Divine  moral  economy  a  realty  and 
no  mere  pageant. 

4th.  Then  may  there  be  that,  which  is  every  way  con- 
trary to  God,  and  in  resistance  of  His  will. 

5th.  Then  may  there  be  that  of  which  God  is  in  no 
sense  the  projector,  and  of  which  He*  may  say,  as  in 
the  Bible,  '•  I  neither  spake  it,  neither  came  it  into  My 
mind." 

6th.  Then  is  sin  an  intrinsic  evil,  and  no  way  a  Divine 
strategy  for  good. 

7th.  There  is  good  connected  with  sin,  only  in  the 
way  of  remedy  from  it  and  its  efi*ects,  through  a  coun- 
teracting Divine  providence 

8th.  Then  is  the  condition  of  the  finally  lost,  the  only 
Divine  alternative  concerning  them. 

9th.  Then  is  the  supremacy  of  God,  in  respect  to  the 
moral  system,  more  to  be  obsei-ved  in  its  results  than  in 
its  prohationary  ongoing.  "  For  He  must  reign  until  He 
hath  put  all  His  enemies  under  His  feet."  "  For  now 
we  see  not  all  things  put  under  Him." 

THESES  m  THEOLOGY.    XI. 

The  terms  of  a  cosipleted  Moral  Science. 

I. — Moral  science  is  not  complete  while  it  fails  to 
harmonize  religioiLS  doctrine  with  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  all  morality, — our  creed  with  our  conscience. 

1.  Conscience  is  a  God-send, — an  element  of  our 
moral  being  as  constituted  in  the  image  of  God. 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY  401 

2d.  As  God  is  one,  our  subjective  being,  as  Divinely 
constituted,  must  be  in  harmony  with  objective  truth. 

3d.  The  conscience  is,  necessarily,  the  concrete  umpire 
in  every  question  of  right. 

4th.  The  conscience  is  in  harmony  with  all  known 
truth;  and  hence 

5th.  That  is  anomalous,  and  put  of  place  in  religious 
doctrine,  which  belies,  or  is  out  of  harmony  with  the 
dictates  of  conscience  as  above,  and,  at  least,  argues  an 
incomplete  analysis  of  the  subject. 

II. — Moral  science  is  incomplete  while  it  ignores  the 
relations  of  God  to  wrong, 

1st.  Moral  principles  are  co-ordinates  of  the  Deity  ;  we 
estimate  his  character  by  them,  or  how  know  that  he  is 
good. 

2d.  We  were  made  in  His  "likeness,"  and  if  He  is 
"  above  morality,"  so  may  we  be. 

8d.  God  is  our  example,  and  we  are  commanded  to  be 
perfect  as  He  is. 

4th.  He  is  the  objective  source  of  authority,  which 
vests  only  in  righteousness. 

5th.  If  we  do  not  know  God's  relations  to  wrong, 
neither  then  do  we  know  His  relations  to  right,  and  are 
at  sea,  over  the  whole  domain  of  morality  and  religion. 

6th.  Ignorance  of  the  Divine  relations  to  wrong  be- 
gets a  weakened  sense  of  obligation  in  ourselves  to  do 
and  be  right. 

III. — Moral  science  is  incomplete  while  it  fails  to  give 
the  doctrine  of  full  and  proper  personal  cause  in  finite 
intelligence.    . 

1st.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  consciousness.  We  have 
the  personal  "  me,"  and  it  is  legitimate  cause,  in  its  own 
26 


402  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

behoof,  as  truly  as  in  the  iDfinite,  and  we  cannot 
ignore  it. 

2d.  It  is  essential  to  responsibility. 

3d.  It  only  can  account  for  the  existence  of  sin  and 
wrong,  and  thus  the  terms  of  a  completed  moral  science 
are,  that  it  defines  the  relations  of  God  to  wrong,  and 
harmonizes  our  religious  creed  with  our  conscience  and 
the  first  principles  of  all  morality. 

IV. — The  dogma  that  sin  and  wrong  are  a  Divine 
strategy,  and  are  introduced  into  the  Divine  economy 
as  an  expedient  for  good,  does  not  thus  harmonize  reli- 
gious belief  with  the  first  principles  of  all  morality — 
the  creed  with  the  conscience. 

1st.  It  does  not  profess  to  do  this,  but  acknowledges 
the  incompatibility  in  question. 

2d.  It  argues  always,  respecting  it,  to  the  point  of 
ad  ignorantiam.  • 

3d.  It  asserts  that  the  relations  of  God  to  wi'ong  can- 
not be  resolved,  and  that  He  is  *'  above  morality"  in  this 
respect. 

4th.  It  involves  the  solecism  that  a  ^vrong  method 
may  not  be  wi'ong. 

5th.  It  involves  the  immorality  that  "  the  end  sancti- 
fies the  means." 

6th.  It  makes  the  expedients  of  mercy  to  be  of  the 
original  law  of  the  Divine  economy,  of  which,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  they  could  not  be. 

7th.  It  is  exposed  to  all  the  objections  stated  in  this 
whole  series  of  Theses. 

V. — The  doctrine  that  makes  sin  no  part  of  the  Di- 
vine economy,  but  simply  an  outbreak  from  it  in  finite 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  408 

cause,  does  harmonize  with  the  first  principles  of  belief 
in  tl;e  conscience  and  with  the  doctrines  of  all  morality. 

1st.  It  holds  that  the  relations  of  God  to  wrong  are 
suggested  as  a  first  truth  of  reason  and  morality. 

2d.  It  takes  to  the  point  of  ad  intelligentiam,  what  the 
other  view  takes,  to  that  of  ad  ignorantiam. 

3d.  It  meets  the  demands  of  consciousness,  in  the 
doctrine  of  cause,  in  our  voluntary  nature. 

4th.  It  meets  the  terms  of  conscience  in  the  question 
of  morality.  $ 

5th.  Intelligence  in  finite  being  constituted  "  in  the 
image  of  God,  and  like  Him,"  possessing  the  attribute 
of  inherent  cause  in  its  sphere,  must,  as  properly  as  He 
does,  originate  its  voluntary  states,  and  plans,  and  pur- 
poses, and  voluntaiy  acts,  on  the  responsibilities  of  a 
moral  being. 

6th.  On  no  other  principle  is  there  any  vitality  in  a 
moral  system,  and  thus  this  view  is  demanded  by  thd 
necessities  of  moral  science. 

P.  S. — This  completes  the  topics  designed  at  present, 
and  may  I  ask  for  the  whole  series  a  careful  revision  and 
study  by  those  who  would  justify  religious  belief,  and 
harmonize  the  creed  with  the  conscience. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    XII. 

Ai*e  the  souls  of  men  the  immediate  creation  of  God, 
and  Divinely  infused  and  implanted  in  them  severally, 
as  they  gain  each  their  personal  being ;  or,  are  they  re^ 
sultant  of  the  law  of  pro-creation  and  descent,  as  their 
bodies  are  in  a  continuous  economy?  Not  the  first,  but 
the  last.    For  if  the  first,  then — 


404  THESES   IN  THEOLOGY. 

1st.  They  would  be  morally  pure  and  perfect  like 
God,  as  were  the  angels  and  Adam  at  their  creation. 

2d.  Then  would  there  be  no  hereditary  proclivity  to 
wrong  in  the  races. 

3d.  Then  would  not  there  be  that  progressive  deteri- 
oration in  clans  and  tribes  of  men  often,  which  history 
shows  ? 

4th.  Then  could  there  be  no  general  lapse  of  the 
world  into  heathenism. 

■  5th.  Then  would  not  the  influence  of  a  precedent  gen- 
eration, on  an  immediately  succeeding  one,  be  what  it  is  ? 

6th.  Then  could  there  be  no  nature  of  things,  in  the 
race,  in  the  moral  sphere. 

7th.  Then  would  the  lesson  Of  history  be  less  instruc- 
tive and  responsible,  and  its  experience  less  important 
and  useful. 

8th.  Then  would  the  doctrine  of  morality  be  less  im- 
posing and  urgent. 

9th.  Then  would  not  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  the 
nature  and  necessity  of  regeneration  be  true  ? 

10th.  Then  would  the  pei-petuated  idiosyncracies  of 
races  and  tribes  and  families  of  men  be  unaccountable. 

11th.  Then  would  the  origin  of  the  race  be  renewed 
in  every  generation. 

But  in  evidence  of  the  last : — 

1st.  A  merely  corporeal  descent  is  not  a  descent  of  be- 
ing, and  would  not  constitute  it  true  that  Abraham  begat 
Isaac,  and  Isaac  Jacob,  and  Jacob  the  twelve  patriarchs. 

2d.  The  process  of  procreation  is  as  properly  mental 
as  corporeal,  and  may  as  properly  communicate  mental 
as  coi*poreal  being. 


THESES   IN   THEOLOGY.  405 

8d.  Children  have  as  much  the  mental  and  moral 
peculiarities  of  their  parents,  ancestors  and  tribes,  as 
their  corporeal  peculiarities. 

4th.  Resemblance  of  mind  to  parents  often  manifests 
itself  in  the  looks  and  actions,  &c.,  of  children,  through 
the  mental  constitution.  The  ideal  similarity  is  often 
greater  than  the  bodily. 

5th.  The  mental  and  moral  peculiarities  and  habits  of 
children  are  but  the  reflex  of  those  of  their  parents,  often. 

6th.  The  mental  peculiarities  of  children  are  often 
but  the  blended  combination  of  those  of  both  parents. 

7th.  The  children  of  intellectual  parents  {cceteris  pa- 
ribus) are  the  more  intellectual. 

8th.  The  headship  of  Adam  to  the  race,  in  the  matter 
of  accountability,  must  refer  primarily  and  chiefly  to  his 
intellectual  and  spiritual  being. 

9th.  The  doctrine  of  an  inherited  proclivity  to  evil 
can  be  true  only  on  this  principle. 

10th.  The  universal  depravity  of  mankind  is  other- 
wise unaccountable. 

11th.  The  scriptural  doctrine  of  the  necessity  of  re- 
generation is  otherwise  untrue. 

12th.  The  felt  tendencies  in  us  to  evil  otherwise  can- 
not be  accounted  for. 

13th  This  only  lays  the  legitimate  ?nd  sufficient  foun- 
dation for  the  domestic  affections  of  parent  and  child. 
We  name  them,  and  why,  if  the  relation  is  merely 
corporeal  ? 

14th.  We  consciously  have  those  traits  of  mind  which 
our  parents  evince. 


406  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

15tli.  This  is  a  universal  law  of  being  and  descent  in  na- 
ture and  every  where, — vegetable,  animal,  after  its  kind, — the 
whole  being  is  propogated — alterations  are  by  cross-breeds 
and  intermixtures — the  Infinite,  the  Son,  has  the  moral  nature 
and  "status"  of  the  Father. 

Objections :  I. — Does  not  this  compromit  the  doctrine  of 
personal  accountability  ? 

Ans. — 1st.  In  all  right  and  normal  action  of  the  race,  this 
feature  of  the  economy  would  be  advantageous,  and  would 
not  be  complained  of. 

2d.  That  man  sinned,  and  that  the  race  is  now  off  the  track, 
.  and  under  law  to  sin,  is  not  a  Divine  responsibility. 

3d.  The  law  and  lead  of  sin  may  be  expected  to  be  unhap- 
py and  unprofitable  any  where  and  any  how. 

4th.  Ail  sinful  indulgence  is  personal  and  resistible,  though 
a  proclivity  to  it  may  be  inherited.  It  is  but  the  law  of  all 
habit  and  propensity,  which  one  may  resist  or  comply  with 
on  his  individual  responsibility.  If  the  tendency  is  innate, 
so  are  reason  and  conscience,  Avith  their  plea  and  rightful 
sway  for  rectitude,  duty  and  truth. 

5th.  There  must  be  personal  compliance  with  wrong  sug- 
gestions and  tendencies,  in  order  to  be  reckoned  a  sinner. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    XIH. 

Does  God  form  and  arrange  temptations  to  sin  and  wrong  ? 

Ans. — He  makes  and  arranges  all  things  for  uprightness  and 
goodness  and  truth.  The  drift  and  aim  and  design  and  in- 
tent and  end  of  His  universal  providence,  is  a  holy,  happy, 
intelligent  universe,  like  Himself— made  in  His  image  for 
union  in  excellence  and  happiness  with  Himself.  The  universe 
He  has  filled  with  motives  to  this,  and  any  other  use  of  them 
is  a  perversion,  which  He  will  punish  or  remedy. 

Proof: — 1st.  A  Divine  activity  in  uprightness,  and  for  it,  in 
the  direction  of  His  own  perfections,  is  the  boundary  sphferc 
of  the  Infinite. 


THESES   IN  THEOLOGY.  407 

2d.  Any  other  lead  on  His  part  would  mar  his  perfections, 
and  impugn  the  first  principles  of  all  morality. 

3d.  Any  other  lead  He  would  have  no  heart  to,  as  He  "  doeth 
all  things  after  the  coamsel  of  His  own  will,"  and  would  never 
do. 

4th.  For  God  to  sustain  a  propositional  relation  to  wrong, 
would  be  to  deny  Himself. 

5th.  The  relation  of  sin,  to  God,  must  logically  be,  that  of 
rebellion  to  the  state  it  plots  against. 

6th.  God  inliibits  all  wrong,  and,  therefore,  could  in  con- 
sistency take  no  measures  in  favor  of  its  existence. 

7th.  Sin  being  an  intrinsic  evil,  could  not  be  regarded  by 
God  as  the  means  of  good. 

8th.  His  law  is  the  exponent  of  His  whole  will  in  this  regard. 

9th.  His  providence  and  the  conscience  He  has  given  ua 
rebuke  us  when  we  do  wrong. 

10th.  Sin  IS  direct  rebellion  against  the  being  and  govern- 
ment sway  of  God. 

11th.  Sin  must  be  rebutted  and  remedied,  in  order  to  have 
God's  end  in  creation  attained. 

12th.  Sin  must  be  repented  of  and  repudiated,  as  that  which 
is  every  way  counter  to  the  will  and  sway  of  God. 

Hence  : — 1st.  Let  no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted,  "  I  am 
tempted  of  God." 

2d.  God's  providence  universally,  is  but  an  argument  for 
uprightness  and  virtue. 

.3d.  The  will  of  man  may,  in  its  perversity,  turn  to  a  wrong 
use  and  end  a  right  and  well  intended  providence. 

4th.  We  may  pervert  to  wrong  and  mischief  what  God 
means  for  good. 

THESES  IN  THEOLOGY.    XIV. 

How  is  the  supremacy  of  God,  in  the  moral  spTiej^e,  maintained  f 

1st.  Not  by  being  the  only  cause. 

2d.  Not  by  invading  or  invalidating  the  appropriate  sphere 
of  finite  cause. 


408  THESES   IN   THEOLOGY. 

* 

3d.  Not  in  that  the  ongoing  in  this  sphere  is  always  as  he 
would  hare  it,  or  as  the  transcript  of  His  will. 

4th.  Not  in  that  all  events  as  related  to  their  causes,  or  as 
in  themselves,  are  the  best  possible. 

5th.  Not  in  having  the  direct  and  absolute  control  and 
sovereignty  of  the  voluntary  states  and  actions  of  finite  intel- 
ligences. 

But — 1st.  By  the  attribute  of  Omnipotence  in  its  proper 
working  in  the  physical  sphere. 

2d.  By  exerting  this  power  as  wisdom  directs,  and  its  na- 
ture admits  of  in  the  moral  sphere. 

3d.  Approximately,  through  a  universe  of  moral,  resistible 
influences. 

4th.  Do.  through  the  appropriate  methods  of  probation. 

5th.  Do.  through  do.  of  a  resultant  retribution. 

6th.  Through  a  sphere  of  independence,  in  His  own  proper 
agency,  and  for  His  own  end,  over  and  above  all  others,  and 
as  the  case  may  be  in  opposition  to  them. 

7th.  By  an  eventually  successful  combat  over  wrong  in 
finite  cause. 

8th.  Through  a  recuperative  agency  against  the  mischiefs 
of  wrong  in  finite  cause. 

9th.  By,  at  length,  putting  down  all  wrong,  and  confining 
it  to  its  own  place. 

10th.  By  at  length,  and  in  the  end,  exacting  all  righteous- 
ness over  wrong,  and  bestowing  all  honor  upon  it,  to  the  dis- 
comfiture of  all  wrong. 

11th.  By  reigning  ever  in  righteousness  himself,  and  bring- 
ing all  willingly  or  unwillingly,  in  heart  or  condition,  even- 
tually under  his  sway. 


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